HOUSTON – A Texas grandfather was arrested, accused of robbing a Sunglass Hut on West Gray in the River Oaks Shopping Center.
The crime did happen, but the 61-year-old wasn’t in Houston, he wasn’t even in the state when it happened. He was more than 2,000 miles away in California.
He is now suing the parent company and blaming faulty image recognition software for putting him in jail.
The theft happened a year ago this week. The lawsuit claims two armed men stormed in, pointed a gun to an employee’s face as the other person ransacked the store.
As the investigation went on, the suit claims managers told police they had a picture of the suspect based on AI. However, it wasn’t the right person.
Nick Thompson is a security expert with ASAP Security Services. They focus on using artificial intelligence and image recognition to prevent crimes.
“We try to be proactive than reactive and give the stakeholders more tools to minimize any further damage,” he said.
The lawsuit claims employees at the West Gray Sunglass Hut used their surveillance video with retail shop Macy’s artificial intelligence software following a robbery.
Store leaders apparently told HPD to stop their investigation because they had their man.
A 61-year-old grandfather was arrested while trying to renew his license because there was a warrant out for his arrest.
While in the Harris County Jail, the lawsuit alleges he was sexually assaulted by three inmates.
Shortly afterwards, he was released, and charges dropped when his attorneys confirmed he wasn’t even in the state.
After looking at the lawsuit, Thompson believes he understands how the victim was wrongfully accused.
“Somebody initially said, ‘that’s the guy.’ The system didn’t do that. So, you have to do, I’m going to show it here, this is appearance search just appearance search. It’s not using face, it’s just using appearance,” he said.
“It sounds like you’re saying it was human error, that someone might have pointed someone out and then the system itself was trying to find that person to make it link up or connect in a way,” KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun said to Thompson.
“I think there was some fault in the beginning and then that just tiered on,” Thompson said.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner in a statement said he is deeply concerned by the allegations made in the lawsuit and that they are looking into the matter.
Thompson said image recognition software is used everywhere including at NRG Stadium and during the rodeo.
Attorney Daniel Dutko of Rusty Hardin & Associates released a statement on the lawsuit by Harvey Murphy Jr.
“Mr. Murphy’s lawsuit does not allege, nor do we believe, that the Houston Police Department did anything wrong. We believe the true bad actors are Sunglass Hut and Macy’s and it was their action in misleading the police that led to Mr. Murphy’s arrest and incarceration.”