My client, a United States military veteran (military police, at that) who was honorably discharged, was driving to work in Greenville on a clear August afternoon when an unmarked, darkly tinted SUV began following him. He'd done nothing wrong. He didn't know that a "private, mass surveillance system" mounted along an Upstate highway had photographed his rental car, misread the license plate, and matched it to a stolen vehicle. That false hit was then sent to law enforcement as a stolen-vehicle alert.
Officers articulated a felony stop in front of his workplace, ordered him out of the car at gunpoint, and handcuffed him where his employer, his coworkers, and the people he supervised could see. Being former military, he put on an absolute clinic on how to interact with the police. He followed every command smoothly, slowly, and without issue or argument. Only after he was in handcuffs did the officers compare the VIN and realize his plate was one character off from the stolen vehicle's plate. He was uncuffed and released at the roadside.
We filed suit in Greenville County against the company that operates the surveillance system and the law enforcement agencies involved. The case raised a question that matters to every driver in South Carolina: when a private company puts cameras on public roads to read every passing plate, and sends automated alerts that can bring armed officers to your car, what duty does it owe to get it right? Is that company allowed to skirt the Fourth Amendment? We argued some pretty basic things: that the system had a duty to read and process license plates accurately, and not to send wrong information to law enforcement. Simple, right? We took the corporate deposition of the "private, mass surveillance system company" and you would be shocked at the lengths they went to avoid saying the words "wrong" or "inaccurate" or "incorrect." That was apparently a bridge too far for a company that sells itself to law enforcement on its accuracy.
When my client left the military, he had every reason to believe he was done having loaded weapons pointed at him. Being forced out of his car at gunpoint on his way to work was something he never expected to go through. And it's all because an AI driven camera with no human backstop screwed up. Think about that.
These systems are now on roads across South Carolina and the country, scanning the plates of ordinary drivers who aren't suspected of anything. Most people never learn they've been photographed. My client found out at gunpoint.
The case resolved a few weeks before trial on confidential terms. I'm not even allowed to tell you the name of the "private, mass surveillance system company." It was a privilege to represent my client and stand with him for the last two years going through the trenches to hold the right people responsible. I'm grateful for the trust he placed in our firm, and I'm proud we got him the justice he deserved.
