Data Card
Amazon named defendant in St. Louis Rekognition false-arrest suit
An amended complaint named Amazon Web Services as a defendant in Christopher Gatlin's St. Louis wrongful arrest case, alleging product liability over a Rekognition misidentification by city police.
2026-08-21CC-BY-4.0wrongful-arrestproduct-liabilityrekognitionvendor-liability
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Key Facts
- Plaintiff Christopher Gatlin spent about two years in county jail after being identified from a grainy, distant image of a masked suspect.
- The amended complaint asserts product liability claims against AWS.
- AWS states its terms of service prohibit police use for criminal investigations.
Card Text
Naming the algorithm provider rather than only the arresting agency tests whether liability can attach upstream of the deploying authority. Contractual use restrictions become the central question if courts treat matching software as a product rather than a service.