San Diego: three men are arrested after police treat a Flock license-plate-reader photo of a red Alfa Romeo, taken five miles from where officers had just tried to stop the suspect car, as a hit; one spends nearly a month in jail before charges are dropped

Times of San Diego (Jesse Marx and Dorian Hargrove, 7 June 2026), drawing on police reports and tort claims it obtained through a California Public Records Act request and on written answers from the two men, reports that on the afternoon of 26 November 2025 San Diego police responded to an attempted carjacking in the 2800 block of E Street in Golden Hill. Ten minutes later officers tried to stop a red Alfa Romeo on Broadway; the driver fled at up to 100 miles per hour and officers lost sight of the car near Little Italy without getting a clear look at its license plate. Five miles away in Old Town, 23 seconds after the officers in Golden Hill tried to stop the car, a Flock automated license plate reader captured a photo of a red Alfa Romeo on Moore Street. A detective in the pursuit received the photo and, according to his report, recognized the vehicle as the one they were pursuing from its red paint and black tinted windows; the article says police got a hit from the Flock system. An officer in Old Town watched three men leave a red Alfa Romeo and enter a cigar lounge, and officers arrested all three. The men said they had not been in Golden Hill; the carjacking victim, brought to Old Town, identified the passenger by his jacket, beard and skin colour, and a police search of the car found no weapons. The driver and the passenger were taken to Central Jail. The driver bailed out the next day; the passenger, who was on probation and whose probation officer was notified, spent nearly a month in jail, missing Thanksgiving, before the assault with a firearm and evasion charges were dropped. The passenger told Times of San Diego that he was full of fear in jail; the newspaper reports that he still feels under a cloud of suspicion. Their attorney says the Flock hit was the wrong car because it was captured before any pursuit began and five miles away. The men's tort claims, filed in April 2026, say police misread their own surveillance system and ignored exculpatory evidence, including other Flock cameras on their route; their attorney says the city denied them.

According to Times of San Diego, three men were arrested after a Flock license-plate-reader photo of a red Alfa Romeo five miles from a carjacking scene was taken as a hit; the passenger spent nearly a month in jail before the charges were dropped and describes continuing fear and suspicion.

The assault with a firearm and evasion charges were dropped after the passenger had spent nearly a month in jail (Times of San Diego). The driver and the passenger filed tort claims against the city in April 2026 alleging that police misread their own surveillance system and ignored exculpatory evidence; their attorney said the city had denied the claims and that he would soon file a lawsuit. San Diego police and the city attorney's office declined to comment on pending litigation (Times of San Diego). No filed lawsuit was inspected.