DETROIT – A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Detroit police in the wrongful arrest of a pregnant woman who was charged in a carjacking partly because of facial recognition technology.

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. Police admitted she was the wrong suspect, and charges were eventually dropped.

Detroit has changed how it uses facial recognition technology based on Woodruff’s arrest and another case.

U.S. District Judge Judith Levy said Woodruff’s arrest and time in jail “are troubling for many reasons.” But she dismissed a civil rights lawsuit against the officer who prepared the arrest warrant, saying Woodruff’s lawyer didn’t show

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