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NOPE
Medium reported severity Lawsuit Ongoing

Aracaju (Brazil): facial recognition falsely matched a football fan to a wanted man; police led him from the stands and the state suspended the system

During the half-time interval of the Sergipe state football championship final at the Batistão stadium in Aracaju on 13 April 2024, military police took a personal trainer from the stands to a police room after the stadium's facial recognition system flagged him as a man with an open arrest warrant; he was searched and questioned and released once police confirmed he was not the person sought (G1, his lawyer and the military police). Sergipe's governor publicly regretted 'the failure of the facial recognition tool' and suspended its use until a new protocol was adopted. In June 2024 the man sued the state for 550,000 reais in moral damages; the state argued that the Aracaju municipality, not the state, had contracted the system. In December 2025 the judge rejected that preliminary objection, according to Mangue Jornalismo, which read the court file. No final judgment is reported.

AI system
Unidentified facial recognition system
Occurred
13 Apr 2024
Reported
15 April 2024
Event location
Brazil
What the AI did
Made a claim about the person · Informed a human decision about the person
Reported harm
Loss of LibertyPsychological DistressReputational Harm
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Justice · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts
4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Facial recognition alerts from the video-monitoring system used by Sergipe military police at the stadium; according to the state's court defence it was contracted by the Aracaju municipality with a private company. The vendor is not named in the sources read

What Happened

The stop. At half-time of the Sergipe state championship final at the Lourival Batista stadium (Batistão) in Aracaju on 13 April 2024, military police approached a personal trainer in the stands after the stadium's facial recognition cameras flagged him, he told G1. He was led across the stands and the pitch with his hands behind his back to a police support room, searched and pressed to 'tell the truth' because the system had matched him to a man with an open arrest warrant. Police used a tablet to confirm he was not that man and released him. Fantástico reported that he was taken away handcuffed; the later damages petition says he was led 'as if handcuffed'.

Official response. The military police said the stop followed standard procedure. The governor of Sergipe wrote that he regretted 'the failure of the facial recognition tool' at the final and suspended the system until a new protocol was in place.

Lawsuit. In June 2024 the man sued the state of Sergipe for 550,000 reais in moral damages at the 12th Civil Court of Aracaju, describing lasting fear of police. In its defence the state argued that the video-monitoring and facial recognition service had been contracted by the Aracaju municipality with a private company, and the head of the Civil Police wrote that the tool is precise but can produce false positives that police must check. In December 2025 the judge rejected the state's preliminary objection, finding that the stop, search and restriction of liberty by state police were enough to link the episode to the state, according to Mangue Jornalismo, which read the court file. No final judgment is reported.

Reported harm

A fan wrongly flagged by facial recognition as a wanted man was led by police from the stands in front of the crowd, searched and questioned before release, and in his damages suit describes lasting fear of police.

How Harm Occurred

The stadium's facial recognition system wrongly matched a fan to a man with an open arrest warrant; military police acted on the alert, leading him from the stands in front of the crowd, searching and questioning him before releasing him.

Outcome

Ongoing

The governor suspended the facial recognition system pending a new protocol (April 2024). Damages suit for 550,000 reais filed in June 2024 at the 12th Civil Court of Aracaju; in December 2025 the judge rejected the state's preliminary objection that the municipality alone was responsible (Mangue Jornalismo, January 2026). No final judgment is reported.

What remains unknown

  • The vendor and model of the facial recognition system and the similarity score of the alert.
  • Whether the suspension was lifted and on what protocol.
  • The final judgment in the damages suit.
  • Whether he was handcuffed: Fantástico says so, while the petition as reported says he was led as if handcuffed.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The stadium's facial recognition system matched the fan to a man with an open arrest warrant, and military police stopped him on that alert (G1, Fantástico, the damages petition as reported by Mangue Jornalismo). The match was wrong: police released him after checking, and the governor publicly regretted 'the failure of the facial recognition tool' and suspended it. The system's own false match is what went wrong; the police decision to detain him rested on it.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported At half-time of the Sergipe championship final at the Batistão stadium in Aracaju on 13 April 2024, military police took a fan from the stands to a police room after the stadium's facial recognition system flagged him as a man with an open arrest warrant; he was searched and questioned and released after police confirmed he was not the person sought.

Causal attribution. The man's account (via his lawyer, Fantástico and his damages petition) and the military police statement; reported.

  • g1.globo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'denunciou ter sido abordado de forma constrangedora pela Polícia Militar, após reconhecimento facial de câmeras de segurança, durante uma partida de futebol'; 'o homem foi liberado após ser comprovado que ele não era a pessoa procurada.'
  • g1.globo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'porque eu tinha sido reconhecido por um sistema de reconhecimento facial, e que tinha um mandado de prisão em aberto para mim'
  • manguejornalismo.org(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'em 13 de abril de 2024'; 'foi revistado e levado a uma sala de apoio da corporação.'
Reported Sergipe's governor publicly regretted the failure of the facial recognition tool at the final and suspended the system until a new protocol was adopted.

Causal attribution. The governor's own published statement, quoted by G1; reported.

  • g1.globo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'Lamento a falha na ferramenta de reconhecimento facial ocorrida durante final do Campeonato Sergipano.'; 'determinei a suspensão do uso do sistema até que novo protocolo seja implantado'
  • g1.globo.com(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'O sistema errou, o torcedor acabou sendo liberado e o governo do estado suspendeu o uso do programa.'
  • manguejornalismo.org(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'determinou a suspensão do uso da ferramenta até a adoção de um novo protocolo diante da repercussão do caso.'
Reported In June 2024 the fan sued the state of Sergipe for 550,000 reais in moral damages at the 12th Civil Court of Aracaju; the state argued that the Aracaju municipality had contracted the facial recognition service, and in December 2025 the judge rejected that preliminary objection, linking the episode to the state because state police carried out the stop.

Causal attribution. Mangue Jornalismo reporting the court file, which it says it read; the documents were not inspected here; reported.

  • manguejornalismo.org(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'pedir indenização de R$ 550 mil por danos morais'; 'Na ação à 12ª Vara Cível de Aracaju, apresentada em junho de 2024'; 'não teria sido contratado pelo governo estadual, e sim pela Prefeitura de Aracaju'; 'Em decisão assinada em dezembro passado, o magistrado responsável pelo processo mostrou pouca disposição para embarcar no jogo de empurra ensaiado pelo governo de Sergipe.'
Reported In the state's defence, the head of Sergipe's Civil Police wrote that the monitoring tool is precise and efficient but can produce false positives, so a similarity alert needs police confirmation.

Causal attribution. The Civil Police letter as quoted by Mangue Jornalismo; reported.

  • manguejornalismo.org(opens in new tab) supports · Portuguese
    'a ferramenta de monitoramento “é precisa e eficiente”, embora admita a possibilidade de ocorrência de “falsos-positivos”'; 'O referido sistema não se propõe à identificação absoluta de pessoas tão somente em razão do alerta emitido, mas constitui um indicativo de semelhança.'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Portuguese on 2026-10-24 from the publisher page (HTTP 200); translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator reviewed it. G1 Sergipe, 15 April 2024: the man's lawyer, the military police statement and the governor's post. Applies to s1.

Read in Portuguese on 2026-10-24 from the publisher page (HTTP 200); translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator reviewed it. G1 page for the Fantástico report of 21 April 2024 (same Globo group as s1); interviews the man and the military police. Applies to s2.

Read in Portuguese on 2026-10-24 from the publisher page (HTTP 200); translated by the research agent (an AI); no human translator reviewed it. Mangue Jornalismo, 29 January 2026, reporting the lawsuit file (petition, the state's defence, a Civil Police letter and the December 2025 decision); the court documents themselves were not read. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Brazil. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Brazil.

The stop took place at the Lourival Batista stadium in Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil, and the damages suit is before the 12th Civil Court of Aracaju. His residence is not stated.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-24: Published as a facial recognition false match acted on by police: the system flagged a fan as a wanted man, police led him from the stands and released him, and the governor called it a failure of the tool and suspended it. Series note: the outcome added to the published facial-recognition police cases is a government suspension of the system because of this false match, together with a court ruling that the state answers for a stop made on a municipally contracted system. Claims rest on Globo reporting and on Mangue Jornalismo's reading of the court file. He is not named.

People described

A personal trainer attending a football final as a fan, wrongly flagged by facial recognition as a wanted man

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One fan detained after the false match (G1, Fantástico, Mangue Jornalismo). He did not use the system; police did, so he is counted among other people harmed. The separate 2023 Pré-Caju stop is not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#facial-recognition#false-match#police-stop#stadium#lawsuit#brazil

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Aracaju (Brazil): facial recognition falsely matched a football fan to a wanted man; police led him from the stands and the state suspended the system. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-aracaju-brazil-stadium-facial-recognition-false-match-police-led-fan-from-stands-state-suspended-system

BibTeX

@misc{2024_aracaju_brazil_stadium_facial_recognition_false_match_police_led_fan_from_stands_state_suspended_system,
  title = {Aracaju (Brazil): facial recognition falsely matched a football fan to a wanted man; police led him from the stands and the state suspended the system},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-aracaju-brazil-stadium-facial-recognition-false-match-police-led-fan-from-stands-state-suspended-system}
}

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