Pregnant woman wrongly arrested files federal lawsuit for facial recognition mistake

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A mother of two was frisked and handcuffed after being arrested for a carjacking in front of her young daughters.

But the problem is she was eight months pregnant - and had nothing to do with the crime.

"I wasn't here - I don't know this person," said Porcha Woodruff. "I don't know if I can say what I want to - but what in the hell, seriously?"

Woodruff says she was getting her 7- and 12-year-old daughters ready for school the morning of February 16th when there was a knock at the door. It was the police - six officers in all.

"(They said) 'We have a warrant for your arrest,'" she said. "Initially I thought it was a joke."

It was no joke - and it was all in front of her young daughters.

"They're like - my mom is going to jail, mom, you're pregnant, what is going on? They were scared - they're still scared," she said.

Her attorney says Detroit police were investigating a carjacking and had run surveillance video from a gas station through their facial recognition software.

DPD says it got a hit on a photo from eight years ago of Porcha Woodruff - then put that photo in a lineup that was allegedly chosen by the victim. But it doesn't appear any other investigation occurred.

"There's nothing in the report that says the suspect is pregnant - this is pretty simple," said Ivan Land, her attorney.

Instead of listening, police took the pregnant and innocent woman with gestational diabetes to the Detroit Detention Center where she spent 11 hours. After she was released on a $100,000 personal bond, she went straight to the hospital.

"They had to give me fluids because I was dehydrated," Woodruff said. "My blood pressure was up - my baby's heart rate was low."

Mom and baby were stabilized, and she had her son the following month.

The charges were later dropped -  but now Woodruff is suing Detroit police in federal court.

"They violated her fourth amendment right - false arrest - false imprisonment," Land said. "This is faulty police work by the Detroit police and it has to stop. As officers - do your job."

DPD Chief James White released a statement saying the allegations are very concerning and they are taking the investigation very seriously.

But critics say this is the third time they know of - that facial recognition technology has led to a wrongful arrest.

"The Detroit Police Department needs to recognize that it is using dangerous technology that fails at particularly high rates for people with Black faces in one of the blackest cities in America - and stop using this racist surveillance technology here in Detroit," said Phil Mayor, Michigan ACLU attorney.

Activists and victims - hope city leaders are listening.

"We have research that says it's an ineffective tool," said Tawana Petty, Detroit Digital Justice Coalition. "We've wasted millions and millions of dollars, we have misidentification cases. what more do we need to move beyond leveraging this technology in our community."

"I don't feel that it should have happened - I definitely don't want it to happen to anyone else because that was a situation I feel like could have been prevented," Woodruff said.