Installing high-end technology can make life easier. AI facial recognition can sift through thousands of people everyday and target, with high precision, individuals who have been flagged by law enforcement, or the property itself.
Killinger, the Nevada Man Wrongly Arrested by Reno Cop, Keeps His Legal Battle
One case where the technology slipped, and human overreliance on it would lead to a chain of unfortunate events, is that of Jason Killinger who was booked by police at Peppermill’s Casino in Reno in 2023.
Killinger was flagged as a “100% match” to a person who had been previously banned from the property for sleeping on the premises. While making a stop at the casino, the truck driver was approached by a police officer, one Richard Jager, who took the man in custody.
Killinger protested vehemently that the police was wrong, but Jager allegedly dismissed these protests and even argued that Killinger had obtained fake documents to try and fool police.
At the time of the arrest, Killinger showed a Nevada ID, a Peppermill’s player card as well as a debit card in his name, seeking to prove his identity and pleading with Jager to acknowledged that the technology had made a mistake. He also produced UPS pay stub and vehicle registration, as well as a union card.
After the mistake was discovered about 11 hours later, Killinger was released, but he has vowed to right the wrong, and is now seeking to get the identity of 168 other victims who have been misidentified by the AI technology as he persues a legal case.
Killinger has filed a lawsuit against Reno and against Jager specifically. The city was added as a defendant in 2026. The lawsuit hopes that by highlighting that the same mistake happened over a hundred times, he would have a better legal standing.
As to Jager, he may be facing the heat of his actions, as he not only wrongfully – and somewhat understandably – arrested Killinger, but he specifically put down in his report that the arrestee had shown him a fabricated ID, and one that conflicted with the one shown to the Peppermill security.
For his part, Jager has apologized in a deposition and admitted that receiving more training on facial recognition beforehand would have helped him avoid the wrongful arrest.
This is within the realm of possibility, but it also clashes with Killinger’s view of events, as well as the fact that police had indeed released him instead of charging him with even the alleged use of a fake ID.
Killinger Is Bent on Bringing Those Responsible to Justice
Peppermill and Killinger have already settled out of court, but Killinger is still bent on bringing the other people and institutions involved to justice. While Reno has provided more than 1,000 pages of documents, the city has made it hard to track who the same victims of wrongful arrests were because of AI.
Killinger’s lawyers have stated that this information is necessary to build and expand the case that their client has put forward already.
“Defendants redacted the arrestees’ identities from responsive documents without ever seeking a protective order,” the complaint states, and adds that these people could be identified as potential witnesses.