In another case of modern technology racially profiling Black people, Brandon Upchurch was complying with police orders to lay on the ground after he was falsely accused of driving a stolen vehicle when one of the cops sicced a police dog on him. Now, the 39-year-old Black man from Ohio is suing the Toledo Police Department, accusing the cops of unreasonable seizure, excessive force, and battery. The incident took place on April 11, 2024, after Upchurch was pulled over by a cop with his gun drawn after a license plate reader misidentified his license plate as one belonging to a tan Chevrolet Malibu that had been reported stolen. A Black man is suing Ohio cops for siccing a police dog on him after he was falsely accused of driving a stolen vehicle by a faulty license plate reader. (Photo: body camera) “They instantly came out with the guns drawn,” Upchurch, who was driving a red Dodge pickup truck, told local media last year. “They did not come to my car and ask me for license, insurance, etc., anything.” The stolen license plate number was JLL 7362. The license plate on Upchurch’s truck was JLL 7637. Another example of cops detaining Black people at gunpoint whose license plate numbers did not match the ones allegedly involved in a crime. Even after Toledo police Officer Adrian Wilson read off Upchurch’s license plate number to a dispatcher who informed him it was not the same number as the one from the stolen car, Wilson called for backup anyway, believing he could find something to arrest the Black man on. According to the lawsuit: Toledo Police Department regulations require officers to visually verify whether the license plate of an allegedly stolen car matches the information provided by the FLOCK system. On information and belief, this is because it is commonly known throughout the Toledo Police Department that the FLOCK system is unreliable and often misreads license plates. Upon seeing the flashing lights of Officer Wilson’s patrol car, Upchurch pulled over to the side of the road near the intersection of Albion and Post. Officer Wilson then failed to visually verify that Upchurch’s license plate number matched the stolen plate reported by the FLOCK system. Instead, he proceeded to take cover behind his patrol car door, pointed his gun toward Upchurch, and ordered Upchurch to turn off his truck and throw his keys out of the vehicle. At no point did Officer Wilson explain to Upchurch why he had been pulled over. Officer Wilson then contacted dispatch to request backup. On his call to dispatch, he read off the actual license plate number on Upchurch’s truck. At this point, Officer Wilson knew that Upchurch’s truck did not match the report from the FLOCK system, but he proceeded with the stop anyway because “he believed that there was something more to the situation, based on [Upchurch’s] behavior.” On information and belief, the dispatcher also responded to Wilson with information confirming that Upchurch’s truck was not in fact stolen. After a backup unit arrived, Wilson told the other officers that Upchurch was being noncompliant; however, Wilson made no mention of the fact that Upchurch’s license plate number did not match the stolen car reported by the FLOCK system. The newly arrived officers took over providing cover and pointed their weapons at Upchurch’s truck while Wilson retrieved his K9 partner from his patrol car. Watch the video below. Cop Received a Verbal Reprimand Empowered by backup cops with guns drawn, Wilson ordered Upchurch to lie on the ground. Upchurch was recording on his cellphone and demanding to know why he had been pulled over, telling the cops all he did was pick up his cousin from work. As the cops repeated their orders to lay on the ground, Upchurch began walking toward the grass and was about to kneel down to comply when the cop sicced the dog on him. “Get the f_ck off me,” Upchurch said. “What is all you doing, man?” “Put your hands behind your back,” one of the cops said. “Don’t you f-cking move.” Despite their blunder, Toledo cops charged Upchurch with obstructing and resisting arrest. Wilson, meanwhile, received a verbal reprimand, accusing the cop of displaying a “lack of energy, inattention, or carelessness in performance of duty to failing to verify the plate as stolen,” the claim states. Three months after Upchurch’s arrest, with his charges still pending, Wilson — having just been reprimanded — charged Upchurch with an additional charge of failing to comply with a lawful order. All three charges were dismissed in August 2024. The lawsuit was filed in federal court last week by Cleveland attorney Peter Pattakos and Toledo attorney Jerome Phillips, listing Wilson as the main defendant along with the city of Toledo for failing to train officers on basic constitutional rights. “City of Toledo, acting under color of state law, failed to correct the training deficiency, or failed to take note of the failure to train, or failed to prevent action under the deficiency, and by doing so directly and proximately caused the deprivation of Plaintiff’s constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment,” the claim states. Last year, the Toledo chapter of the NAACP described the arrest as “unwarranted” and “inhumane.” “Our police are here to serve, not to occupy our neighborhoods even when they believe a violation of the law has been committed,” the Rev. Willie Perryman III, president of the Toledo NAACP branch, told the Toledo Blade. Unfortunately, as police increasingly use modern technology to track down criminals, they continue to harass, detain and arrest innocent Black people because the technology itself has proved to be just as biased as the cops themselves. In fact, a 2018 study cited by the ACLU determined that facial recognition technology misidentified Black women 35 percent of the time while hardly ever getting it wrong for white men. “If government agencies like police departments and the FBI are authorized to deploy invasive face surveillance technologies against our communities, these technologies will unquestionably be used to target Black and Brown people merely for existing,” the ACLU states. ‘Get the… Off Me!’: Ohio Cops Sic Dog on Innocent Black Man After Faulty License Plate Reader Falsely Accused Him of Driving Stolen Vehicle. Now He’s Suing ...read more read less