Harvey Murphy Jr facial recognition wrongful arrest

A Texas man was mistakenly arrested for armed robbery using facial recognition, leading to his imprisonment and rape, and resulting in him suing Macy's and the owner of Sunglass Hut.

Harvey Murphy Jr was arrested in October 2023 for the January 2022 robbery of a Sunglass Hut in Houston, though his attorneys said he was in Sacramento, California, at the time of the robbery. During his two weeks time in detention, he was allegedly attacked and raped by three men, leaving permanent injuries. 

According to Murphy’s lawsuit, an employee of EssilorLuxottica, Sunglass Hut’s parent company, worked with its retail partner Macy’s and used facial recognition software to identify Murphy as the robber, leading to his arrest. 

Murphy's alibi was eventually believed and the charges against him dropped.