Eminence Growth Solutions, home

Search

Subscribe
Menu

Search

Subscribe

AI failures · Incorrect automated decision

Detroit Police Facial Recognition — Wrongful Arrest of Pregnant Woman (Porcha Woodruff)

Verified Checked against its sources on 3 sources quoted

Where it happened
Michigan, United States
Organization
Detroit Police Department
Date
Arrested February 16, 2023; charges dismissed March 2023; lawsuit dismissed August 5, 2025
Function
Law enforcement
Where it happened
Facial recognition; identity verification
System
Detroit Police Department facial recognition search (vendor not named in sources read)
Technology
Machine learning
Type of failure
Incorrect automated decision
Caught by
Internal review, The person affected

Summary

Detroit police ran facial recognition on gas-station video in a carjacking investigation and the search produced Porcha Woodruff as a lead. A photo lineup using an older mug shot of her followed, the victim picked her, and she was arrested on February 16, 2023, while eight months pregnant and held about 10 hours. The detective recognised on seeing her that she could not be the suspect because she was visibly pregnant. Charges were dismissed in March 2023. Her federal civil-rights suit (Woodruff v. Oliver, E.D. Mich.) was dismissed on August 5, 2025, because she had not shown the detective lacked probable cause; her lawyer said an appeal was planned. Detroit police no longer arrest on facial recognition results alone.

Consequence

  • Charges against Woodruff were dismissed in March 2023.
  • Her civil-rights lawsuit against the detective was dismissed on summary judgment (August 5, 2025).
  • Detroit police no longer arrest on facial recognition results alone or on photo lineups generated from a facial recognition search.

Who caught it Internal review, The person affected

Analysis

What could have been done

Checking AI output against its sources

Every factual element of AI output (citations, figures, quotations) is checked against its source before reliance.

The arrestee was eight months pregnant, which did not match the suspect's description or appearance on the video; this was recognised only when the detective saw her after the arrest.

A review that can actually catch the error

The reviewer has the time, information and expertise to catch the error, not only to sign off.

The confirming witness identification came from a photo lineup that followed the facial recognition lead, so the check rested on the output it was meant to test; Detroit police now will not arrest on lineups generated from a facial recognition search.

What would likely have prevented it

  • Treat an automated match as an investigative lead and require corroborating evidence obtained independently of the match before acting on it.
  • Check the lead against every available independent fact, such as the description and the source video, and record that check before an arrest.

What would likely have caught it earlier

  • Review each action taken on a facial recognition lead for whether independent corroboration existed, and report leads that proved wrong to the system owner.

Related reading Review Is a Control Only When It Can Catch the ErrorMost Documented AI Failures Were Found by Someone Else

Key dates

  1. February 16, 2023Event
  2. October 16, 2026Checked against sources
  3. October 18, 2026Checked against sources
  4. October 21, 2026Checked against sources

Developments are added when the record is reviewed. Next review: October 16, 2027.

Evidence

Each passage is quoted from its source. The quoted passages are re-checked against the live pages every month.

  1. In 2023, DPD officers wrongfully arrested plaintiff Porcha Woodruff on the basis of a faulty facial recognition match and subsequent witness identification made from a photo lineup array.

    Supports: Who, what (facial recognition match and lineup), year

    Woodruff v. Oliver American Civil Liberties Union Reporting or analysis

  2. realized that Plaintiff could not be the female suspect because Plaintiff was 8-months pregnant, which did not match the suspect's description or appearance on the video footage.

    Supports: How the error was recognised

    Woodruff's charges were ultimately dismissed on March 7 at her preliminary exam.

    Supports: Charges dismissed

    Woodruff v. Oliver, No. 23-11886 (E.D. Mich.), ECF No. 78: Order granting defendant's motion for summary judgment (5 August 2025) U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (copy hosted by ACLU) Primary source

  3. Porcha Woodruff, who was eight months pregnant, spent 10 hours in jail after she was arrested at her suburban Detroit home while getting children ready for school in February 2023.

    Supports: Date, time held

    But she dismissed a civil rights lawsuit against the officer who prepared the arrest warrant, saying Woodruff’s lawyer didn’t show that the officer lacked probable cause.

    Supports: Lawsuit dismissed

    Detroit police now won't arrest people based solely on facial recognition results and won’t make arrests based on photo lineups generated from a facial recognition search.

    Supports: Policy change

    Woman wrongly accused of carjacking loses lawsuit against Detroit police who used facial tech Associated Press (via ClickOnDetroit) Reporting or analysis

Suggested citation. Eminence Scan, “Detroit Police Facial Recognition — Wrongful Arrest of Pregnant Woman (Porcha Woodruff)”, Eminence Growth Solutions, last verified October 16, 2026, https://eminencegrowthsolutions.com/tools/eminence-scan/record/fail-087/.

Using our research: you may read and quote Eminence Scan with credit to “Eminence Scan, Eminence Growth Solutions” and a link; all other rights reserved. Terms: Using our research.

Spotted an error, or a development we have missed? Report a correction. How we check records: research methodology.