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He's suing for $10 million.
www.dailymail.co.uk
www.theguardian.com
A Texas man is suing the parent company of Sunglass Hut after he was falsely identified as the suspect in a robbery and thrown in jail to be gang-raped by three other men and left with permanent injuries.
Harvey Eugene Murphy, Jr., 61, is suing the parent company of Sunglass Hut, EssilorLuxottica USA, as well as several others. He seeks $10 million in damages.
Murphy, a grandfather who grew up in Texas, was in Sacramento, California when two armed men stormed into the Sunglass Hut on West Gray in Houston.
The suspect demanded all the money in the store while his companion grabbed armfuls of sunglasses. Stites and Bonilla were forced into the back storeroom and ordered to stay there until the robbers left.
Houston Police Department questioned the employees at the scene and reviewed security footage, finding video of the getaway vehicle.
Police tracked down the owner of the vehicle's license plates and confirmed they were stolen ten days before the robbery.
During the investigation officers received a call from Anthony Pfleger,
the head of loss prevention for EssilorLuxottica. Pfleger said he worked with Macy’s loss prevention to determine that the person who robbed the store was Murphy.
'Using artificial intelligence and facial recognition software, EssilorLuxottica and Macy’s took the video from the robbery and determined that Murphy was the robber,' the lawsuit states. 'The video was recorded by Kimco’s poor low-quality cameras.'
HPD visited the Sunglass Hut and asked to conduct a photo lineup with the employees. However, EssilorLuxottica only allowed HPD to present the photo lineup to Bonilla and refused to make Stites available, the suit claims.
It further alleges that the company had 'already prepped Bonilla' to identify Murphy as the man who threatened her life.
Murphy was living in the city of Gonzales when a warrant was issued for his arrest, having moved back from California for work. He visited the DMV when his driving license expired and was taken into custody.
'Obviously, Murphy was confused because - as he repeatedly told HPD - he had not done anything wrong for many years,' the lawsuit reads.
The suit acknowledges that Murphy had a lengthy criminal past, but his lawyers contend this was for 'non-violent burglaries' committed in his twenties, a period he spent in and out of jail.
'Murphy began working full time and going to church. He worked in the prison ministry, helping people to change their lives the way he did,' the lawsuit states. 'So, when Murphy was arrested at the DMV he had no idea what was going on.'
...[H]e was arrested and taken to the local county jail, where he was held for 10 days before being transferred to and processed in Harris county jail.
After a few days at Harris county, his alibi was confirmed by both his court-appointed defence attorney and the prosecutor, and the charges against him were ultimately dropped, according to the lawsuit.
Murphy was arraigned after being transferred to Harris County and the District Attorney’s office asked the Judge to keep him incarcerated without bond.
Only at his hearing did Murphy finally learn what he was being charged in connection with, according to the lawsuit.
After he was booked into a maximum-security jail, the 61-year-old was followed into the bathroom by three criminals who brutally beat him, forced him onto the ground and gang-raped him.
Following the attack, one of the assailants held a shank to Murphy's neck and threatened to murder him if he reported the assault to anyone.
The charges against him were dropped hours later and he was freed.
His lawyers contend he was left with permanent injuries 'that he has to live with every day of his life.'
Citing research by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Texas man's legal team argue that EssilorLuxottica and Macy’s 'knew that there was an error rate of almost 90%' when facial recognition technology attempts 'to match a subject’s face to photographs taken more than 18 years before.'
Furthermore, using Murphy's mugshot, taken decades ago in the '80s, would make the facial recognition comparison 'error prone and faulty.'
The suit alleges malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, negligence and gross negligence.
Murphy is seeking compensation for past and future medical expenses, mental anguish, and lost wages and future lost wage-earning capacity.
In addition to Luxxotica, others named in the lawsuit include the Sunglass Hut employees, Stites and Bonilla; EssilorLuxottica's head of prevention, Thomas Pfleger; Macy's, Inc.; and Kimco Realty Corporation, which owns the cameras.
Edit: Upon perusing other articles it appears Murphy was held in the local gaol for ten days before being transferred to Harris County Gaol. He was attacked after a few days there, and released a few hours after that.
Man wrongly ID'd as Sunglass Hut thief by facial recognition RAPED
Harvey Eugene Murphy, Jr., is suing the parent company of Sunglass Hut after he was falsely identified as a suspect and left with permanent injuries from a brutal gang rape.
Facial recognition used after Sunglass Hut robbery led to man’s wrongful jailing, says suit
Harvey Eugene Murphy Jr’s lawsuit claims he was misidentified as culprit of armed robbery and put in jail, where he says he was raped
www.theguardian.com
A Texas man is suing the parent company of Sunglass Hut after he was falsely identified as the suspect in a robbery and thrown in jail to be gang-raped by three other men and left with permanent injuries.
Harvey Eugene Murphy, Jr., 61, is suing the parent company of Sunglass Hut, EssilorLuxottica USA, as well as several others. He seeks $10 million in damages.
Murphy, a grandfather who grew up in Texas, was in Sacramento, California when two armed men stormed into the Sunglass Hut on West Gray in Houston.
The suspect demanded all the money in the store while his companion grabbed armfuls of sunglasses. Stites and Bonilla were forced into the back storeroom and ordered to stay there until the robbers left.
Houston Police Department questioned the employees at the scene and reviewed security footage, finding video of the getaway vehicle.
Police tracked down the owner of the vehicle's license plates and confirmed they were stolen ten days before the robbery.
During the investigation officers received a call from Anthony Pfleger,
the head of loss prevention for EssilorLuxottica. Pfleger said he worked with Macy’s loss prevention to determine that the person who robbed the store was Murphy.
'Using artificial intelligence and facial recognition software, EssilorLuxottica and Macy’s took the video from the robbery and determined that Murphy was the robber,' the lawsuit states. 'The video was recorded by Kimco’s poor low-quality cameras.'
HPD visited the Sunglass Hut and asked to conduct a photo lineup with the employees. However, EssilorLuxottica only allowed HPD to present the photo lineup to Bonilla and refused to make Stites available, the suit claims.
It further alleges that the company had 'already prepped Bonilla' to identify Murphy as the man who threatened her life.
Murphy was living in the city of Gonzales when a warrant was issued for his arrest, having moved back from California for work. He visited the DMV when his driving license expired and was taken into custody.
'Obviously, Murphy was confused because - as he repeatedly told HPD - he had not done anything wrong for many years,' the lawsuit reads.
The suit acknowledges that Murphy had a lengthy criminal past, but his lawyers contend this was for 'non-violent burglaries' committed in his twenties, a period he spent in and out of jail.
'Murphy began working full time and going to church. He worked in the prison ministry, helping people to change their lives the way he did,' the lawsuit states. 'So, when Murphy was arrested at the DMV he had no idea what was going on.'
...[H]e was arrested and taken to the local county jail, where he was held for 10 days before being transferred to and processed in Harris county jail.
After a few days at Harris county, his alibi was confirmed by both his court-appointed defence attorney and the prosecutor, and the charges against him were ultimately dropped, according to the lawsuit.
Murphy was arraigned after being transferred to Harris County and the District Attorney’s office asked the Judge to keep him incarcerated without bond.
Only at his hearing did Murphy finally learn what he was being charged in connection with, according to the lawsuit.
After he was booked into a maximum-security jail, the 61-year-old was followed into the bathroom by three criminals who brutally beat him, forced him onto the ground and gang-raped him.
Following the attack, one of the assailants held a shank to Murphy's neck and threatened to murder him if he reported the assault to anyone.
The charges against him were dropped hours later and he was freed.
His lawyers contend he was left with permanent injuries 'that he has to live with every day of his life.'
Citing research by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Texas man's legal team argue that EssilorLuxottica and Macy’s 'knew that there was an error rate of almost 90%' when facial recognition technology attempts 'to match a subject’s face to photographs taken more than 18 years before.'
Furthermore, using Murphy's mugshot, taken decades ago in the '80s, would make the facial recognition comparison 'error prone and faulty.'
The suit alleges malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, negligence and gross negligence.
Murphy is seeking compensation for past and future medical expenses, mental anguish, and lost wages and future lost wage-earning capacity.
In addition to Luxxotica, others named in the lawsuit include the Sunglass Hut employees, Stites and Bonilla; EssilorLuxottica's head of prevention, Thomas Pfleger; Macy's, Inc.; and Kimco Realty Corporation, which owns the cameras.
Edit: Upon perusing other articles it appears Murphy was held in the local gaol for ten days before being transferred to Harris County Gaol. He was attacked after a few days there, and released a few hours after that.
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