RI woman says Flock camera misidentified her, leading to arrest 34%
By Katie Mulvaney30%
8/8/2026, 3:04:19 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Confirmation Bias, and Representativeness Heuristic, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 23.2% saturation with 159 hits. Analysis detected 812 faulty-reasoning hits from 685 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 34.7% and a BS Rank of 34% (20,316 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 66.40% of the article peer group.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island is imploring the Town of Cumberland to end its contract with Flock Safety based on allegations in a federal lawsuit accusing the police of using a photo pulled from the license plate reader to wrongfully arrest and prosecute a woman.
The ACLU is calling on Cumberland leaders to cancel the town's contract with Flock and the use of their automated license plate readers based on concerns raised in the complaint that the cameras have been used to take photos not just of license plates but of people inside the vehicle, the organization said in a press release on Aug.
7.
“These cameras are concerning enough when used just as license plate readers, but their danger is exponentially increased when expanded to take photos of people as well.
Just as disturbing is the fact that no mention was made about this capability when the cameras were approved for purchase in 2024,” Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of RI, said in a letter to the Town Council.
The ACLU is calling, too, for full disclosure to the public about how the cameras are being used and when they began being used to capture photos of people inside vehicles, as well as “whether and when this previously unreported surveillance expansion beyond license plate data was ever shared publicly.”
Cumberland Mayor Jeffrey Mutter said in an email as he was traveling back from visiting his daughter in Charleston, South Carolina, that the town is “taking the matter seriously and have been paying attention to actions of other communities here in Rhode Island.”
“I also have concerns about instances in other states that have been reported recently,” Mutter said in an email.
A spokesperson for Flock Safety did not immediately respond to an email inquiry.
What the lawsuit alleges
The lawsuit was filed in U.S.
District Court in June on behalf of Eva Pizzarelli and alleges that she was wrongfully arrested and prosecuted by Cumberland police after she was misindentified by an officer using Flock photos.
According to the claims, Officer Jack Halloran was patrolling Broad Street on March 26, 2025, when he saw a gray Volkswagen fail to signal a turn.
Halloran tried to stop the car, but instead it fled into Attleboro, Massachusetts, at a high speed.
Halloran stopped the pursuit minutes later and reported that he had a “clear view” of the driver, a “white, middle-aged woman, with red hair.”
Correia reviewed people associated with the car and searched the Facebook account of one potential user.
Correia then reviewed that individual’s "friends" and located a photograph of a White woman with red hair, leading him to the profile of Pizzarelli, who at the time of that photo, had red hair.
Correia forwarded the profile to Halloran, who confirmed that Pizzarelli was the driver, the suit says.
Correia reported that he had secured footage from a Flock camera and concluded that the driver in the footage “matches” Pizzarelli’s driver’s license photo.
Halloran wrote up a complaint charging Pizzarelli with reckless driving and eluding police and other traffic offenses, the suit says.
On April 8, 2025, the East Providence police stopped Pizzarelli for an alleged traffic violation and took her into custody after learning there was a warrant for her arrest out of Cumberland, the suit says.
Pizzarelli was taken to Cumberland, where she was questioned and denied any involvement or knowledge of the incident in March.
During questioning, Halloran stated, “Now that I see you in person, I am 1,000% sure it was you,” Pizzarelli alleges in the suit.
Halloran noted that it was Pizzarelli’s birthday, sarcastically stating, “Happy Birthday,” while she was being held for more than six hours before being charged and released.
Pizzarelli was prosecuted and temporarily had her license suspended before the charges were dismissed, the suit says.
Pizzarelli is seeking $750,000 in damages for claims that include malicious prosecutions, false arrest and negligence.
The town denied the claims in its response in court and argues that the officers are shielded by qualified immunity.
Speakers
6speakers54%attributed speech317writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageSteven Brown
67 attributed words18% of attributed speech55% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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