A Florida man is suing law enforcement agencies after being wrongfully arrested and prosecuted due to a faulty AI facial recognition match. Robert Dillon, 52, was arrested at his home in Fort Myers, over 300 miles from Jacksonville Beach, where a crime occurred. He was accused of attempting to lure a child from a McDonald's, based on a 93% probability match from the Faces system.
The charges were dropped last year, but Dillon's lawsuit, filed with the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges that investigators ignored exculpatory evidence. The suit claims lead investigator Scott O'Connell omitted that license plate readers showed none of Dillon's vehicles near the scene, and that the photo used was a low-quality cellphone screenshot. It also notes a McDonald's employee identified Dillon as a regular customer, despite him living hundreds of miles away.
The lawsuit states this is at least the 15th known case of false arrest due to facial recognition in the US. The ACLU's Nate Freed Wessler said, 'Police across the country are on notice: Unreliable face recognition technology is hurting people.' Dillon said he remains traumatised, adding, 'No law enforcement agency has ever apologised or acknowledged the error.'
