A Detroit woman who says she was falsely arrested while 8 months pregnant says she spent 11 hours on a concrete jail bench before being released. She says a bogus facial recognition match is to blame.
Porcha Woodruff
- A Detroit woman says she was falsely arrested on charges of carjacking and robbery.
- Police had used facial recognition software to match her to the female suspect, her lawsuit says.
- While 8 months pregnant, she says she was forced to sit on a concrete bench in jail for 11 hours.
A Detroit woman says she was falsely arrested while eight months pregnant and forced to sit for 11 hours on a concrete jail bench before being released, a newly filed lawsuit says. She alleges that a bogus facial recognition match is partly to blame.
Attorneys for Porcha Woodruff, 32, filed a lawsuit against the City of Detroit and Detroit Police Detective LaShauntia Oliver on August 3, alleging that Woodruff was falsely arrested and accused of carjacking and robbery. Woodruff is seeking $25 million in damages.
The lawsuit accuses police of using "unreliable facial recognition" software to connect Woodruff to the crime. Facial recognition software is notoriously inaccurate, and it often misidentifies Black people. Woodruff is a Black woman.
Detroit Police Chief James White said in a statement to Insider that Woodruff's allegations are "very concerning" and that the department is "taking this matter very seriously." He declined to comment further.
Woodruff and her attorney Ivan Land told Insider they think police should conduct further investigations before arresting people using facial recognition.
"Facial recognition itself shouldn't target people of color," Woodruff said. "I just don't want this to keep happening."
Woodruff was arrested in connection to a carjacking and robbery
Woodruff was arrested after a man went to Detroit Police and said he was the victim of a carjacking and robbery.
The man told police he had sex with a woman named Trinidad, and afterward, they went to a local gas station, where he said the woman interacted with several individuals, a police report included in the lawsuit shows. After leaving, the victim said he was robbed and carjacked by a man who had been at the gas station.
Woodruff's attorneys say in the lawsuit that Detroit Police Detective Oliver used facial recognition technology on surveillance footage, which matched Woodruff to the woman in the video.
The lawsuit says that police showed the man a lineup of photos of six women — including an eight-year-old photo of Woodruff — and he identified Woodruff as the woman he was with during the carjacking.
Woodruff's lawyers allege in the suit that there was no mention of the female suspect being pregnant during Oliver's interactions with the victim.
Woodruff's lawyer, Land, told Insider that the victim had been drinking at the time of the incident, so his recollection of the day may have been impaired. The victim told police he had been drinking with Trinidad before the carjacking, his witness statement included in the lawsuit shows.
Woodruff was arrested in front of her children
According to the lawsuit, Woodruff initially thought police were joking when they showed up at her door with a warrant for her arrest on February 6 "given her visibly pregnant state."
As her two children, ages 6 and 12, cried, Woodruff told them to go upstairs and tell her sleeping fiancé, "Mommy is going to jail," the lawsuit said.
Porcha Woodruff
Attorneys for Woodruff say in the suit that Woodruff was taken to Detroit Detention Center, where she had to stand or sit "on a concrete bench for approximately 11 hours before being released since there were no beds or chairs available."
Woodruff's attorneys allege in the suit that while in jail, Woodruff "was not able to consume the foods or beverages offered because of her diagnosis" of gestational diabetes. She told Insider that police had no bottled water to offer her, only faucet water from the station, which she did not trust to drink.
She added that they also offered her sugary concentrated lemonade, which she couldn't drink because of her diabetes, and a ham sandwich that she said looked 5-10 days old.
Woodruff was eventually released on a $100,000 personal bond, and her fiancé took her to the hospital, where she was treated for dehydration and contractions from stress, the lawsuit says.
A few weeks later, the charges against Woodruff were dismissed for lack of evidence, court documents included in the lawsuit show. Her lawyer said she ended up not having to pay the $100,000 bond.
Woodruff's lawyer says his client 'has a long road ahead of her'
Woodruff said the incident took a "huge toll" on her and her family.
"I'm still stressed. My anxiety is through the roof, especially now," Woodruff told Insider, adding that she's still dealing with postpartum depression from the experience. "My kids, they have anxiety. They're stressed out. They see police officers, and they're scared."
Land told Insider that Woodruff "has a long road ahead of her."
He added that Woodruff "doesn't know what the long-term effect" of the incident would be on her son, her two daughters, or herself.
"Her marriage was put on hold because of these proceedings and the money she has to extend defending this," Land added. "She wasn't able to go to work. She's still hurting."