NiJeer Parks facial recognition wrongful arrest, jailing

33-year-old Black man Nijeer Parks annnounced he would sue New Jersey city, police department, and prosecutor for false arrest, false imprisonment and violation of his civil rights for misidentifying him using facial recognition.

Parks had been arrested in January 2019 for purportedly shoplifting from a candy shop in Woodbridge, New Jersey. 

The real cuplrit had given the police a fake driver's license with Park's photograph before absconding, leading to the police issuing a warrant for Parks' arrest. Only Parks had never been to Woodbridge, had never owned a driver's license, and had a sound alibi.

Having feigned an asthma attack during a police interrogation, Parks was arrested, denied bail, and held for 10 days. 

Parks was finally released and the case against him dismissed for lack of evidence. 

Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️

• Nijer Parks v John E. McCormack (2020) (pdf)

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/technology/facial-recognition-misidentify-jail.html

• https://www.axios.com/facial-recognition-tech-new-jersey-false-arrest-7c1237e3-88de-43cf-961f-14e562a4dc3b.html

• https://www.nj.com/middlesex/2020/12/he-spent-10-days-in-jail-after-facial-recognition-software-led-to-the-arrest-of-the-wrong-man-lawsuit-says.html

• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9095719/New-Jersey-man-sues-wrongful-arrest-facial-recognition-bust.html

• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/black-man-new-jersey-misidentified-facial-recognition-tech-falsely-jailed-n1252489

• https://www.businessinsider.com/black-man-facial-recognition-technology-crime-2020-12

• https://www.engadget.com/facial-recognition-wrongful-arrest-lawsuit-new-jersey-201517290.html

• https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-jersey-man-says-facial-recognition-software-led-to-his-false-arrest-in-lawsuit

• https://www.wsj.com/articles/facial-recognition-tools-in-spotlight-in-new-jersey-false-arrest-case-11609269719

• https://futurism.com/the-byte/lawsuit-claims-facial-recognition-ai-sent-wrong-man-jail

• https://www.teenvogue.com/story/artificial-intelligence-policing-encode-justice