Nijeer Parks Sues New Jersey Police After False Facial Recognition Lands Him Time In Jail

Black man detained for more than a week based on a false match by facial recognition software sues New Jersey police.

Nijeer Parks, 33, a Black man from Paterson, said his grandmother had told him that he was issued an arrest warrant on January 30, 2019, according to a civil lawsuit in Passaic County. Parks spent more than a week in jail after police detained him in 2019 on charges of shoplifting, assault and drug possession related to a incident that year at a Hampton Inn hotel in Woodbridge, N.J., according to a complaint filed in New Jersey Superior Court.

After spending 10 days in jail and $5,000 to defend himself, the case was dismissed. He is the third person falsely arrested by a flawed facial recognition match. All three were Black men. Parks was 30 miles away when he was accused of shoplifting and trying to hit an officer with a car.