{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-11-07T02:53:23.322Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"tennessee","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"contextual","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":1,"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":"2025-morristown-tennessee-flock-alpr-stolen-alert-vanity-plate-grandparents-handcuffed-gunpoint","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'both police officers had guns drawn on me as I was doing that,'; 'To be treated that way at gunpoint, handcuffed, humiliated,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Officers handcuffed them both, while'; 'After the couple was handcuffed, it was discovered that the vehicle identification number on the Expedition'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Morristown police stopped the couple, held them at gunpoint and handcuffed them both, while their 3-year-old granddaughter remained in the car.","causal_attribution":"The couple's account to WATE; police records reviewed by Business Insider record the handcuffing and the high-risk stop, and the department told WATE that high-risk protocol is common in felony investigations."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The officers received a Flock alert that the plate was stolen.'; 'It had already been recovered, but it was never removed from the system.'; 'their license plate number was recorded as a zero, not the letter O.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'In Claiborne County, a Ford F-150 was reported stolen.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Officers received a Flock alert that the plate was stolen; the Flock summary recorded the couple's plate with a zero instead of the letter O, matching a stolen pickup that had already been recovered but was never removed from the system.","causal_attribution":"Business Insider from police records; WATE confirms the stolen pickup but does not mention Flock."},{"id":"c3","status":"disputed","evidence":[{"locator":"'However, using either character, the license plate shows as a stolen vehicle in the crime information database.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'officers used information from the National Crime Information Center (a state database, not the license plate reader database) as our protocol requires'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The police department says the officer ran the tag as displayed, with an O, and that with either character the plate shows as stolen in the crime information database; the chief says officers relied on the National Crime Information Center as protocol requires.","causal_attribution":"Police account; it disputes that the license-plate reader determined the stop, against Business Insider's account of the Flock alert."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I really thought if I get shot today'; 'I had a laser beam on my chest at one point,'; 'so I was crying,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The grandfather said he thought he might be shot and felt humiliated; the grandmother said she had a laser sight on her chest at one point and was crying as she heard her granddaughter calling for her.","causal_attribution":"Their own account to WATE."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'She has regressed to sleeping with her parents'; 'didn’t want to get in my vehicle'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The grandmother told WATE that since the stop the granddaughter has regressed to sleeping with her parents, keeps repeating 'baby in the car', and did not want to get into her vehicle.","causal_attribution":"The grandmother's account to WATE."}],"effects":[{"label":"both grandparents held at gunpoint and handcuffed while their 3-year-old granddaughter stayed in the car","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"grandfather feared being shot and felt humiliated; grandmother says she was crying","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"3-year-old granddaughter left alone in the car; her grandmother says she has since regressed and is afraid to get into the vehicle","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.wate.com/news/top-stories/couple-handcuffed-in-morristown-due-to-license-plate-mix-up/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-04 from the Internet Archive 2026 capture (WATE, June 2025; Google News dates it 11 June 2025); the live site returned HTTP 403. Interview with the couple and a police department statement; does not mention Flock.","independence_group":"wate-morristown-interview"},{"id":"s2","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); full text present in the served page. Draws on police records including the Flock investigative summary, an interview and the police chief.","independence_group":"business-insider-records-review"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["The exact date of the stop; WATE says a Monday morning and Business Insider says June 2025.","Whether the Flock camera misread the letter O as a zero or matched a hotlist entry under a normalized character; Business Insider reports only that the summary recorded a zero.","Whether any complaint or claim was filed."],"geography":{"basis":"The stop was made by Morristown, Tennessee, police (WATE; Business Insider); the couple are described as earlier stopped in Bean Station and visited at home by officers, both in East Tennessee. No court proceeding is reported.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional-use case: WATE reports the couple's account of being held at gunpoint and handcuffed with their granddaughter in the car, and Business Insider reports from police records that a Flock alert flagged the plate and recorded it with a zero. The police say the stop rested on the crime information database; that dispute is recorded. None of the family is named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-04"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Business Insider, citing police records, reports that officers received a Flock alert that the plate was stolen and that the Flock summary recorded the plate with a zero; the deputy chief's earlier email warned that Flock misreads plates. The police department says the officer confirmed the hit in the crime information database, where the plate shows as stolen with either character, and the chief says officers relied on that database. The stale stolen-vehicle record and the armed stop were human and institutional decisions; how far the reader's alert determined the stop is disputed.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Morristown, Tennessee: police held a grandmother and grandfather at gunpoint and handcuffed them in June 2025, with their 3-year-old granddaughter left in the car, after a Flock alert flagged the grandmother's vanity plate, which matched a recovered stolen pickup's plate spelled with a zero; police say the stop rested on the crime database","summary":"In June 2025 Morristown, Tennessee, police stopped a couple driving their 3-year-old granddaughter to a doctor's appointment, held them at gunpoint and handcuffed them both. The grandmother's personalized plate spelled a nickname with the letter O; a Ford F-150 reported stolen in Claiborne County carried the same word spelled with a zero. Business Insider reported in March 2026 that officers received a Flock alert that the plate was stolen, that the Flock investigative summary recorded the couple's plate with a zero, and that the stolen pickup had already been recovered but was never removed from the system. The police department told WATE that the officer ran the tag as displayed, with an O, and that with either character it showed as stolen in the crime information database; the police chief told Business Insider that officers relied on the National Crime Information Center as protocol requires. The grandfather told WATE that he thought he might be shot and felt humiliated, and the grandmother said she was crying as she heard her granddaughter calling for her.","incidentDate":"2025-06-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-06-11","aiSystem":"Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader camera system whose alert flagged the couple's plate as stolen and whose investigative summary recorded the plate with a zero for the letter O (Business Insider, citing police records)","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_liberty","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Both grandparents were held at gunpoint and handcuffed while their 3-year-old granddaughter stayed in the car; the grandfather said he feared being shot and felt humiliated, and the grandmother said she was crying (WATE; Business Insider). The grandmother says the granddaughter has since regressed to sleeping with her parents and did not want to get into her vehicle (WATE). Police dispute that the license-plate reader determined the stop.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"disputed","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":3,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Three people: the grandparents, both held at gunpoint and handcuffed (WATE; Business Insider), and their 3-year-old granddaughter, left terrified and alone in the car (Business Insider), who the grandmother says has since regressed to sleeping with her parents and did not want to get into her vehicle (WATE). Exact 3.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"US-TN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.wate.com/news/top-stories/couple-handcuffed-in-morristown-due-to-license-plate-mix-up/","primarySourceLabel":"WATE 6 On Your Side, June 2025: Couple handcuffed in Morristown due to license plate mix-up","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-04T03:32:02.866389+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-04T03:32:02.866389+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","vanity-plate","stale-hotlist","wrongful-stop","gunpoint","tennessee","morristown","justice","made-claim-about"]},{"id":"2025-lipps-facial-recognition-wrongful-jailing","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"Surveillance 'showed woman using a fake US army military ID to withdraw tens of thousands'; the 8-count charge list.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Zibolski 'acknowledged that investigators made incorrect assumptions based on the West Fargo Police Department's Clearview AI facial recognition technology'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"Warrant signed 2025-07-01 with nationwide extradition; the chief: the case 'was not solely based on just that one piece'; 'an AI function through the North Dakota State Intelligence Center'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The case began with bank-fraud surveillance of a woman using a fake U.S. Army military ID to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars; an AI facial-recognition identification tied Lipps to that surveillance — recorded by Snopes as the West Fargo Police Department's Clearview AI technology, and by Fargo's chief as 'an AI function through the North Dakota State Intelligence Center... not anything that we own'; a nationwide-extradition warrant was signed on 1 July 2025.","causal_attribution":"The vendor attribution differs between the chains (Clearview per Snopes' reading of the WFPD investigation; the state intelligence center's function per the chief) and is recorded with the discrepancy."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'US marshals arrested Lipps at her Tennessee home while she was babysitting four children... taken away at gunpoint'; 'nearly four months without bail'; bank records 'more than 1,200 miles away in Tennessee'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"PD timeline: TN waiver 10-20; booked Cass Co. 10-30; bank records presented 12-12; dismissal agreed 12-23; released 12-24.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Dismissal 'without prejudice... Angela remains a person they are investigating'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"U.S. Marshals arrested her at gunpoint at her Tennessee home on 14 July 2025 while she babysat four children; she fought extradition for about three months in a Tennessee jail, was booked into Cass County on 30 October, and was released on 24 December after her bank records showed her more than 1,200 miles away in Tennessee; charges were dismissed without prejudice.","causal_attribution":"The custody timeline is consistent across the Guardian, KVLY's police timeline and Snopes; the dismissal's without-prejudice character comes from KVLY's attorney piece."},{"id":"c3","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"KVLY-obtained email 'showed six Fargo detectives were notified of Lipps' arrest in July — nearly five months before Fargo Police say they knew she was in custody'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"An email obtained by KVLY shows six Fargo detectives were notified of her arrest in July 2025 — nearly five months before the department says it learned she was in custody (5 December).","causal_attribution":"KVLY's own document reporting; the department's stated knowledge date comes from its police timeline."},{"id":"c4","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"The 'incorrect assumptions' concession (Snopes' reading of the 24 March presser).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"The chief's 'not solely based on just that one piece' and the state-center tool description.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Stefonowicz's April statement on an apology.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski acknowledged 'incorrect assumptions' linked to the AI identification while insisting the case 'was not solely based on just that one piece'; incoming Chief Stefonowicz said in April that if Ms. Lipps deserves an apology, 'I will absolutely be the first person to reach out'.","causal_attribution":"The concession's exact wording beyond Snopes' paraphrase is unverified; both chiefs' positions are recorded as stated."},{"id":"c5","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'lost her home, her car and her dog.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Rice: 'pursuing potential civil rights claims, though no lawsuit has been filed'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"She lost her home, her car and her dog; her attorney Eric Rice said he was pursuing potential civil-rights claims, with no lawsuit filed as of 31 March 2026.","causal_attribution":"The losses are from the Guardian's account of her situation; the claim status is the attorney's statement as of 31 March 2026."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Angela Lipps, of Elizabethton, Tennessee, filed the federal lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in North Dakota against the City of Fargo and Fargo Police Department Detective Lucas Heck'; 'The complaint says Heck failed to disclose that the facial recognition result was actually based on a photo from the suspect's fake ID, not the surveillance footage'; 'The lawsuit brings five claims... Lipps is seeking $10 million in damages'; 'These are allegations contained in a civil complaint. No response has been filed as of this writing.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"On 15 September 2026 Lipps filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit in the District of North Dakota against the City of Fargo and Detective Lucas Heck seeking $10 million, alleging that he relied on a flawed facial-recognition match based on the suspect's fake-ID photo, ignored exculpatory evidence and failed to disclose that such results are only investigative leads; the suit brings five claims and says the department had no facial-recognition policy or training at the time.","causal_attribution":"The filing and its contents are reported by the same station chain (KVLY) that broke the case; the complaint itself was not inspected, so the claim is recorded as reported rather than documented. The InForum report of the same filing answered HTTP 403."}],"effects":[{"label":"five months wrongfully jailed on an AI facial-recognition identification, with lasting losses","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/12/tennessee-grandmother-ai-fraud","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-15 (12 Mar 2026, Marina Dunbar).","independence_group":"guardian"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.valleynewslive.com/2026/03/17/chief-zibolski-ai-was-lead-not-only-evidence-wrongful-jail-allegation/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-15 (17 Mar 2026, Alix Larsen).","independence_group":"kvly"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.valleynewslive.com/2026/04/01/attorney-discusses-potential-lawsuit-after-tennessee-grandmother-jailed-by-facial-recognition-error/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-15 (31 Mar 2026, Ethan Kramer).","independence_group":"kvly"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ai-tennessee-woman-jail/","kind":"fact_check","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-15 (19 Jul 2026, updated 22 Jul; rating True). Aggregates the InForum/WDAY originals (blocked, 403); its Clearview attribution reflects that chain.","independence_group":"snopes"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.valleynewslive.com/2026/09/15/tennessee-woman-sues-fargo-ex-detective-over-wrongful-arrest-tied-facial-recognition-error/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2026-09-15T17:39Z; Valley News Live, which first reported the case in March 2026).","independence_group":"kvly"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["The InForum original investigation (the first reporting chain) is blocked (403) and was not read; Snopes' and the Guardian's accounts of it are used instead.","The exact wording of the 'incorrect assumptions' concession beyond Snopes' paraphrase is unverified.","The vendor question — Clearview AI (per Snopes) versus the North Dakota State Intelligence Center's AI function (per the chief) — is unresolved.","The woman in the bank-fraud surveillance (the actual suspect) is not reported as identified; the dismissal without prejudice leaves the investigation open.","Her arrest's bail conditions and the custody conditions are not detailed in the inspected sources.","The federal complaint (filed 15 September 2026) was not inspected and its case number is not given in the inspected report; the InForum account of the filing was blocked (403)."],"geography":{"basis":"Event: arrest at her Tennessee home; jailing in Tennessee and Cass County, North Dakota; the underlying bank fraud in the Fargo/West Fargo area. Affected person: Lipps, Tennessee. Court: the Cass County charges (dismissed), North Dakota.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional automated-decision case (made_decision_about / made_claim_about): an AI facial-recognition identification set five months of wrongful custody in motion, documented by the Guardian, an independent local chain with its own document reporting (KVLY), and a fact-check carrying the blocked original chain. She is named in national coverage; the police chiefs' accounts are preserved as contrary context. Updated 16 September 2026 with the $10 million federal suit filed on 15 September, recorded from the Valley News Live report as a reported claim.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Snopes records the misidentification as based on the West Fargo PD's Clearview AI technology; Fargo's police chief separately describes 'an AI function through the North Dakota State Intelligence Center' and concedes 'incorrect assumptions' while insisting the case was not solely based on that one piece. The vendor attribution (Clearview vs the state center's function) is recorded with the discrepancy.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["made_decision_about","made_claim_about"]},"name":"Tennessee grandmother Angela Lipps jailed five months on an AI facial-recognition misidentification; charges dismissed after bank records placed her 1,200 miles away","summary":"On 14 July 2025, U.S. Marshals arrested Angela Lipps, a 50-year-old Tennessee grandmother, at gunpoint at her home while she was babysitting four children, on a nationwide-extradition North Dakota warrant: West Fargo police's AI facial-recognition technology had tied her to bank-fraud surveillance of a woman using a fake U.S. Army military ID to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars. She fought extradition for about three months in a Tennessee jail, was booked into Cass County, North Dakota on 30 October 2025 on four counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information and four counts of theft, and was released on 24 December after her bank records showed her more than 1,200 miles away in Tennessee; charges were dismissed without prejudice. Fargo's police chief acknowledged 'incorrect assumptions' linked to the AI identification; an email obtained by KVLY shows six Fargo detectives were notified of her arrest in July, nearly five months before the department says it knew she was in custody. She lost her home, her car and her dog; her attorneys are pursuing potential civil-rights claims, with no lawsuit filed as of 31 March 2026. On 15 September 2026 she filed a $10 million federal civil-rights suit in the District of North Dakota against the City of Fargo and the detective, alleging he relied on a flawed facial-recognition match and ignored exculpatory evidence.","incidentDate":"2025-07-14","incidentEndDate":"2025-12-24","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-03-12","aiSystem":"Clearview AI facial recognition (per Snopes' account of the West Fargo PD investigation); described by Fargo's chief as 'an AI function through the North Dakota State Intelligence Center'","aiProduct":"Clearview AI facial recognition (reported)","aiCompany":"Clearview AI (vendor per Snopes); North Dakota State Intelligence Center (per Fargo police chief)","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["legal_harm","loss_of_autonomy","reputational_harm","property_loss","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Five months jailed on an AI-driven misidentification — arrested at gunpoint while babysitting, held states away from home — ending only when her bank records proved she was 1,200 miles away; she lost her home, car and dog, and the dismissal without prejudice leaves her 'a person they are investigating'.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One documented harmed person: Lipps, the misidentified defendant (three chains; her attorneys' account). The children she was babysitting are recorded in the narrative but not counted as harmed persons (no harm to them is reported).","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/12/tennessee-grandmother-ai-fraud","primarySourceLabel":"The Guardian (12 Mar 2026, Marina Dunbar) — the arrest, the custody ordeal, the losses","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-15T10:28:13.154947+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:08.693119+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["civil-rights","clearview","facial-recognition","justice","lawsuit","made-claim-about","made-decision-about","north-dakota","tennessee","wrongful-arrest"]}]}