A Texas man claims he was mistakenly identified as an armed robber by Macy's and Sunglass Hut's facial recognition software, leading to his imprisonment and gang rape, court documents revealed Thursday.
Harvey Eugene Murphy Jr., 61, is the man who allegedly robbed a Sunglasses Hut at gunpoint in Houston, Texas, in January 2022. “Positively (but incorrectly) identified'' as a “person''. , according to court documents. In addition to stealing thousands of dollars, the suspects also allegedly robbed Macy's.
A “poor, low-quality camera” recorded surveillance footage of the alleged robbery, documents said.
Murphy, who said he was in Sacramento, California, at the time of the robbery, was arrested and incarcerated in an “overcrowded maximum security prison for violent criminals,” the documents said. While in prison, he was “beaten, gang-raped, and suffered severe permanent scars” before being released hours later, according to the complaint.
Defendants include New York-based Macy's and the Italian-French multinational EssilorLuxottica Group, the parent company of Sunglass Hut. The Sunglass Hut store manager and sales staff, as well as Essilor Luxottica's loss prevention manager, were also named as defendants, according to the documents. (Related: Woman sues city for arresting her while pregnant based on incorrect facial recognition)
“Any of us could be wrongly accused and imprisoned based solely on error-prone facial recognition software. “Despite this knowledge, the software continues to be used to proactively identify alleged criminals,” the lawsuit reads in part.
Murphy's attorney said he had not broken the law in the past 30 years, although he was last charged with nonviolent crimes in the 1980s and 1990s, the Houston Chronicle reported. report. Murphy is reportedly seeking $10 million.
According to the report, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banned Rite Aid from using facial recognition technology for five years in December 2023 to settle the charges. FTC press release. The FTC charged Rite Aid with using technology that was “more likely to produce false positives in stores located in predominantly Black and Asian communities than in predominantly white communities,” the press release said. .
