{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-04T08:53:47.517Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"misread","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2024","response":"lawsuit","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":2,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":2,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2024-toledo-ohio-flock-alpr-misread-plate-gunpoint-stop-police-dog-bite-charges-dropped","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'TPD was alerted to a stolen license plate by a FLOCK camera. It turns out, that information was wrong.'; 'With guns drawn, officers tell the driver multiple times to get out of the truck.'; 'was then arrested and charged with resisting arrest and obstruction.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'begins to kneel, an officer releases the K-9 on him, the footage shows.'; 'a traffic stop involving a K-9 on April 11, 2024.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"On 11 April 2024 a Toledo police officer, alerted by a Flock camera to a stolen plate, stopped the man's pickup; officers drew their guns and ordered him out, a K-9 handler released a police dog on him, and he was arrested and charged with resisting arrest and obstruction.","causal_attribution":"Police report and released body-camera footage as reported by 13abc and ABC News; both outlets rely on the same department records."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The FLOCK camera captured an image that came back to a Chevy Malibu but is pictured on the back of a late model red Dodge Ram pickup truck.'; 'So it was a misread. But I stopped it.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'was a \"mishit\" or \"misread\" by the license plate reader'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'A camera made by the technology startup Flock Safety misread the \"7\" on'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The camera had misread the plate: the plate on the pickup was not the stolen plate, and the officer can be heard on body-camera audio calling it a misread.","causal_attribution":"Police records and body-camera audio as reported; Business Insider specifies the misread digit from police records."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'will receive a departmental reprimand for failing to visually verify the license plate with the information received from the license plate reader.'; 'determined officers who released a K-9 on a man during a traffic stop acted within TPD policy.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The Toledo police chief found the dog deployment within policy and said the officer who made the stop would be reprimanded for failing to visually verify the plate with the information from the license-plate reader.","causal_attribution":"Police chief's statement as quoted by 13abc."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'he was bitten seven times on his forearm and elbow by the K-9 after being pulled over on April 11 and has been unable to work since.'; 'traumatized for real'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The man told ABC News that the dog bit him seven times on his forearm and elbow, that he had been unable to work since, and that he was traumatized.","causal_attribution":"His own account to ABC News."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The bite caused serious injuries to his arm, and he lost feeling in his fingers, he said.'; 'He sold his truck to keep up with his rent'; 'He was eventually evicted'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"Business Insider reports that the bite caused serious arm injuries and loss of feeling in his fingers, that he quit his lawn-care business and forklift job, sold his truck and was evicted.","causal_attribution":"His own account to Business Insider."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'prosecutors dropped the all the charges, including the later addition of Failure to Comply.'; 'The information from the camera turned out to be wrong and the license plate was not stolen.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Prosecutors dropped all charges against him, including a later failure-to-comply charge, on 19 August 2024.","causal_attribution":"His attorneys as reported by 13abc."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'it is commonly known throughout the Toledo Police Department that the Flock system is unreliable and often misreads license plates.'; 'He settled the case in October for $35,000.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"He sued the officer and the city, alleging that the Flock system was known in the department to be unreliable, and settled the case for $35,000.","causal_attribution":"Lawsuit allegation and settlement as reported by Business Insider; the complaint and settlement record were not read."}],"effects":[{"label":"held at gunpoint, bitten by a police dog and arrested after a misread license-plate-camera alert flagged his plate as stolen","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"says he was traumatized and unable to work after the bites","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"reported lasting arm injury and loss of his business, truck and home","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.13abc.com/2024/04/15/body-cam-tpd-officers-releasing-k-9-man-during-traffic-stop/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-10-04 (13abc/WTVG, 15 April 2024). Reports the police report and released body-camera footage.","independence_group":"wtvg-13abc-toledo-police-records"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://abcnews.com/US/man-speaks-after-police-release-9-traffic-stop/story?id=109463145","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-10-04 (ABC News, 20 April 2024). Interview with the driver plus its own review of the police body-camera footage.","independence_group":"abc-news-interview"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.13abc.com/2024/05/31/tpd-investigation-finds-no-wrongdoing-use-k-9-man-during-traffic-stop/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-10-04 (13abc/WTVG, 31 May 2024). Quotes the Toledo police chief's statement on the internal review.","independence_group":"wtvg-13abc-toledo-police-records"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.13abc.com/2024/08/19/charges-dropped-against-man-toledo-police-released-k-9-during-traffic-stop-lawyer-says/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-10-04 (13abc/WTVG, 19 August 2024). Reports the dismissal from the man's attorneys.","independence_group":"wtvg-13abc-toledo-police-records"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.businessinsider.com/flock-safety-alpr-cameras-misreads-2026-3","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-10-04 (Business Insider, 9 March 2026); the page is marked subscriber-only but the full article text was present in the served page and its JSON-LD articleBody. Draws on police records, the lawsuit and an interview.","independence_group":"business-insider-records-review"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["The lawsuit's court and case number; the complaint and settlement record were not read.","Whether the misread came from plate condition, a plate cover or the camera itself; no source gives a cause.","How long he was held in the county jail beyond Business Insider's statement that it was hours."],"geography":{"basis":"The stop took place in Toledo, Ohio, and the man is described as of Toledo (13abc, ABC News); the charges were brought and dropped by local prosecutors and his lawsuit was settled before a federal judge (13abc; Business Insider).","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional-use case consistent with the held Flock misread rows: the police report, body-camera audio and the police chief's statement (13abc) establish that a Flock license-plate-reader alert misread the plate and prompted the stop; the man's own accounts to ABC News and Business Insider describe the injuries and losses. He is not named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-04"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The police report (as reported by 13abc) says officers were alerted to a stolen license plate by a Flock camera and that the information was wrong; on the body-camera audio the officer calls it a misread; the police chief reprimanded the officer for failing to visually verify the plate with the information received from the license-plate reader. Business Insider, citing police records, reports the camera misread a 7 as a 2 and describes the cameras as Flock's AI cameras. The plate match against a stolen-plate record is the automated system's claim about his truck; drawing guns, releasing the dog and the arrest were officers' decisions.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Toledo, Ohio: police stopped a man's pickup at gunpoint in April 2024 after a Flock license-plate camera misread his plate as stolen, released a police dog that bit him, and charged him; prosecutors dropped the charges and he later settled a lawsuit for $35,000","summary":"On 11 April 2024 Toledo police officers stopped a pickup truck after a Flock license-plate camera alerted them to a stolen plate. According to the police report and body-camera footage reported by 13abc and ABC News, the camera had misread the plate, which was not stolen. Officers drew their guns, ordered the driver out and to the ground, and a K-9 handler released a police dog as he began to kneel. The driver told ABC News he was bitten seven times on his forearm and elbow, was traumatized and could not work; he was arrested and charged with obstruction, resisting arrest and, later, failure to comply. Prosecutors dropped all charges in August 2024. The department found the dog deployment within policy and reprimanded the officer who made the stop for failing to visually verify the plate against the reader's information. Business Insider reported in March 2026 that police records show the camera read a 7 on the plate as a 2, that the man lost feeling in his fingers, gave up his lawn-care business and forklift work, sold his truck and was evicted, and that he had sued the officer and the city and settled in October for $35,000.","incidentDate":"2024-04-11","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2024-04-15","aiSystem":"Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader camera (described by Business Insider as one of Flock's AI cameras) that read the pickup's plate, matched the misread plate to a stolen-plate record and alerted a Toledo police officer","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["physical_injury","loss_of_liberty","psychological_distress","financial_loss","legal_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The driver was held at gunpoint, bitten repeatedly by a police dog, arrested and jailed for hours and charged; he says he was traumatized and could not work, and Business Insider reports lasting arm injuries, the loss of his business and truck, and eviction (his accounts to ABC News and Business Insider). The charges were dropped.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the driver, held at gunpoint, bitten and arrested (13abc, ABC News, Business Insider). His cousin was a passenger; no source reports harm to the cousin. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-OH","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_settled","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.13abc.com/2024/04/15/body-cam-tpd-officers-releasing-k-9-man-during-traffic-stop/","primarySourceLabel":"13abc (WTVG), 15 April 2024: Body cam of TPD officers releasing K-9 on man during traffic stop","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-04T03:31:44.811835+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-04T03:31:44.811835+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","misread","wrongful-stop","gunpoint","police-dog","ohio","toledo","justice","made-claim-about","settlement"]},{"id":"2024-york-county-sc-flock-alpr-misread-plate-gunpoint-stop-melvin-lawsuit","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'was stopped by a York County sheriff’s deputy on Feb. 14, 2024, while pulling into his apartment complex near Lake Wylie.'; 'received an alert from a Flock license plate reader that a stolen, dark-colored BMW sedan was traveling in the area, according to the filing.'; 'ordering him to kneel on the ground with his hands over his head for over five minutes, the filing said.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'approached Melvin with his firearm drawn and ordered him out of the car, according to the lawsuit.'; 'remained there for roughly five minutes while deputies checked his information.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'ordered him out of his car at gunpoint.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"According to the lawsuit, on 14 February 2024 a York County deputy who had received a Flock license-plate-reader alert for a stolen dark-coloured BMW approached Melvin's black BMW with his gun drawn as Melvin pulled into his apartment complex near Lake Wylie, and made him kneel with his hands over his head for more than five minutes until deputies established that the car was not stolen.","causal_attribution":"The plaintiff's lawsuit as reported; the Post and Courier says he was handcuffed, the Herald and Military.com describe him kneeling. The complaint itself was not read."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The Flock camera incorrectly identified the first letter of the license plate.'; 'tinted license plate cover was illegal, and obscured the camera, according to the filing.'; 'correctly identified Melvin’s plate 13 times that month prior to the traffic stop, according to the filing.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'The stop resulted from erroneous information associated with a Flock alert,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Flock camera misread the first letter of Melvin's South Carolina plate; the sheriff's office blamed an illegal tinted plate cover and its internal-affairs report says the stop resulted from erroneous information associated with a Flock alert, while an internal email cited in the filing says the cameras had read his plate correctly 13 times that month.","causal_attribution":"Filing and internal records as reported; the sheriff's office and the plaintiff disagree about why the plate was misread."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'said he suffered trauma and “emotional distress” because of the traffic stop.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'feared for his life and reasonably believed he could be shot.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Melvin says he suffered trauma and emotional distress and feared he could be shot.","causal_attribution":"Plaintiff's own account in the complaint."},{"id":"c4","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'NOTICE OF REMOVAL from York County Court of Common Pleas, case number 2026CP4602329.'; 'Melvin v. York County Sheriff's Office, 0:26-cv-03474'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"The defendants removed Melvin's suit from the York County Court of Common Pleas (case 2026CP4602329) to the US District Court for the District of South Carolina, where it is docketed as Melvin v. York County Sheriff's Office, 0:26-cv-03474.","causal_attribution":"Docket entry."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The York County Sheriff’s Office denies violating Melvin’s rights and has asked a federal judge to dismiss the case.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'The sheriff’s office found in November 2024 that'; 'actions were “reasonable” after Melvin filed an internal affairs complaint against them.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The sheriff's office denies violating Melvin's rights and has asked the federal court to dismiss the case; a November 2024 internal-affairs review found the deputy's actions reasonable.","causal_attribution":"Defendants' position as reported; no dismissal motion appears among the docket entries read (through 8 September 2026)."}],"effects":[{"label":"held at gunpoint and made to kneel for more than five minutes after a misread license-plate-reader alert flagged his car as stolen","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"says the stop caused him trauma and emotional distress","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.heraldonline.com/news/local/crime/article316428323.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-09-28 from the Internet Archive capture of 25 September 2026 (The Herald, Rock Hill, 9 July 2026); the live site timed out. Reports from the lawsuit and attached documents; includes a Flock statement.","independence_group":"melvin-lawsuit-filings"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.postandcourier.com/york-county/news/flock-license-plate-readers-york-county-cameras/article_21d1fac9-69b0-4706-93ab-f0e43c0ede6e.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-28 (Post and Courier, 19 August 2026). Draws on the lawsuit and quotes the internal-affairs report; does not name the plaintiff.","independence_group":"melvin-lawsuit-filings"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.military.com/iraq-war-veteran-says-flock-camera-error-led-to-police-gunpoint-stop","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-28 (Military.com, 16 September 2026). Relays the lawsuit and the Herald's reporting on the dismissal request.","independence_group":"melvin-lawsuit-filings"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74652791/melvin-v-york-county-sheriffs-office/","kind":"court_docket","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-28: CourtListener docket for Melvin v. York County Sheriff's Office, 0:26-cv-03474 (D.S.C.); entries through 8 September 2026. No filed documents were available to read.","independence_group":"dsc-docket-0-26-cv-03474"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["Whether Melvin was handcuffed as well as held kneeling (the Post and Courier and the Herald differ).","Whether the misread was caused by the tinted plate cover, the camera or both, and why the alert was not visually confirmed before the weapon was drawn.","The outcome of the dismissal request and of the suit."],"geography":{"basis":"The stop took place at Melvin's apartment complex near Lake Wylie, York County, South Carolina (Herald); the suit was filed in the York County Court of Common Pleas and removed to the US District Court for the District of South Carolina (docket).","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a contextual case consistent with the existing Flock rows: an automated plate reader misread a man's plate and flagged his car as stolen, and deputies held him at gunpoint. The account rests on his lawsuit and the sheriff's own records as reported, with the federal docket confirming the case. He is named as the plaintiff in his own suit.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-28"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"According to the filing reported by the Herald, the deputy acted on a Flock license-plate-reader alert for a stolen BMW; the camera misread the first letter of Melvin's plate, and the sheriff's internal-affairs report says the stop 'resulted from erroneous information associated with a Flock alert' (Post and Courier). The misread plate matched against a hotlist is the automated system's claim about his car. The sheriff's office attributes the misread to an illegal tinted plate cover; an internal email says the cameras had read his plate correctly 13 times that month. The decision to draw a weapon was the deputy's.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"York County, South Carolina: Iraq War veteran Steven Melvin says deputies held him at gunpoint and made him kneel for more than five minutes outside his Lake Wylie apartment complex in February 2024 after a Flock license-plate reader misread his plate and flagged his BMW as stolen; he sued in June 2026","summary":"According to a lawsuit filed on 29 June 2026 and reported by The Herald (Rock Hill), a York County sheriff's deputy stopped Steven Melvin, 42, on 14 February 2024 as he pulled into his apartment complex near Lake Wylie, after receiving a Flock license-plate-reader alert that a stolen dark-coloured BMW sedan was in the area. The deputy approached Melvin's black BMW with his gun drawn and aimed at him and made him kneel with his hands over his head for more than five minutes; after calling for backup and checking his information, the deputy determined the car was not stolen. The camera had read the first letter of his South Carolina tag incorrectly, matching a stolen BMW one letter off. A sheriff's internal-affairs review in November 2024 found the deputy's actions reasonable and blamed an illegally tinted plate cover, for which Melvin received a verbal warning; an email cited in the filing says the cameras had read his plate correctly 13 times that month. Melvin says the stop caused him trauma and emotional distress. The sheriff's office removed the case to federal court in August 2026 and denies violating his rights.","incidentDate":"2024-02-14","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-07-09","aiSystem":"Flock Safety automated license-plate reader (a camera the Herald describes as AI-enabled) that read passing plates, matched Melvin's misread plate against a stolen-vehicle hotlist record and sent an alert to the deputy","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_liberty","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Melvin says he was held at gunpoint and detained kneeling for more than five minutes after a misread Flock alert and suffered trauma and emotional distress (his complaint as reported by the Herald and Military.com); the sheriff's office disputes that the stop was unlawful.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, Steven Melvin, detained at gunpoint (lawsuit via the Herald, Military.com, Post and Courier). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-SC","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.heraldonline.com/news/local/crime/article316428323.html","primarySourceLabel":"The Herald (Rock Hill), 9 July 2026: York man was held at gunpoint over incorrect Flock hit. Sheriff blames illegal tag cover","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-28T03:31:25.729021+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:54.634302+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","wrongful-stop","gunpoint","south-carolina","york-county","justice","made-claim-about","lawsuit"]}]}