Florida Man Sues After Facial Recognition Led to Arrest for Crime He Did Not Commit

A Florida man was arrested hundreds of miles from his home after facial recognition software matched low-resolution photos of a suspect to his image with 93 percent confidence. The arrest occurred in August 2024 after police in Jacksonville Beach responded to an attempted child abduction at a McDonald's in November 2023.

The man had never visited the city and said he had not left Fort Myers in two years. The only evidence tying him to the incident was the facial recognition result generated from cell-phone photos of security footage. Police did not obtain mobile-order records, payment data, or higher-quality images from the restaurant, nor did they check cell-phone location data.

Prosecutors dropped the charges more than two months after the arrest once the man's attorney provided proof he was at work.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit this week in U.S.

District Court for the Middle District of Florida on the man's behalf. The complaint names the city of Jacksonville Beach and the officers and agencies involved. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages plus an order requiring new safeguards on facial recognition use.

The lawsuit states the officer took pictures of the surveillance screen with a cell phone rather than obtaining a copy of the footage. It also notes that the McDonald's manager recognized the suspect as a regular customer, a detail investigators did not pursue.

“The night I spent in jail after they arrested me for a crime I did not commit still haunts me to this day.”