Flock license plate reader wrongly linked a San Diego man to a violent crime

When Hugo Parra was arrested last year on felony charges, his pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears. San Diego police had a description of the Alfa Romeo car he was riding in and a witness who identified him during a curbside lineup as the man who brandished a handgun in Golden Hill. They had also checked the city’s automatic license plate camera system, run by the private company Flock, and got a “hit, substantiating the claim. The problem, says attorney Alex Coolman, was that Parra was five miles away from Golden Hill at the time of the crime, and the so-called hit from the license plate reader was captured before any police pursuit began. “This Flock hit was obviously the wrong car, as it could not have been in both places simultaneously,” said Coolman, who represents Parra and the driver, 23-year-old Ariel Beltran. Despite the signs pointing to it being a different Alfa Romeo, police arrested Beltran and Parra. Nonetheless, Parra spent nearly one month behind bars, missing Thanksgiving and other special events with his family, before the assault with a firearm and evasion charges were dropped. “I was in disbelief,” Parra told Times of San Diego in an email. “Sitting in jail, I was full of fear and adrenaline because I was being charged with a violent crime. I was placed with a high-power, dangerous population. I remember a specific man there had murdered two people, but there were a few more murderers.” Now Parra and Beltran are preparing to sue the city for civil rights violations and negligence.