An Instagram influencer has filed a £23 million lawsuit against the police after her photo was mistakenly used on a wanted poster.
Eva Lopez, 31, was enjoying her holiday in Florida last August when she caught sight of a wanted poster with her photo on it.
The image showed Lopez, a bartender and fashion influencer, posing during a night out. The poster alleged she was wanted for grand larceny. Unfortunately for the police, they didn't just use an inappropriate photo - they used the wrong person altogether.
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The poster, released by the New York Police Department, outlined how the 9th Precinct Detective Squad was attempting to identify the woman in the photo for grand larceny.
'On August 3, 2021, the complainant's roommate did reply to an online escort advertisement and while the subject was at his apartment at 178 2nd Avenue the subject did remove complainant's Rolex watch valued at £13,000 and a Chase credit without permission or authority to do so,' the poster reads, as per the New York Post.
Lopez was in Queens at the time of the incident, not Manhattan. After she contacted the NYPD, they claimed to have known about the error and immediately took down all the posts with her photo.
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'It was already spread around on social media... it was still being passed around, still being talked about, still making me look like a thief and a prostitute,' she said.
Lopez, who has 862,000 Instagram followers, added: 'On Facebook, the [wanted poster] got shared over thousands of times - 10,000, 20,000 times. Then on Instagram a lot of blog sites that have millions of followers, they posted it as well.'
Lopez's lawsuits alleges the 'incident has damaged [her] personal reputation in her neighbourhood and has damaged her professional reputation in her employment'.
The NYPD has yet to comment on the case, but the city's Law Department said it would review the lawsuit. Lopez has since set her Instagram to private.
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Lopez also claims she spoke to East Village Detective Kevin Dwyer, who reportedly explained how the victim of the case showed officers photos of Eva when trying to identify the suspect.
'People didn't think I was being honest. It was just really, really embarrassing, not only for me but for my family, as well,' she told outlet.
According to Mark Shirian, Lopez's attorney, the incident has 'caused and continues to cause [her] severe mental anguish and emotional distress... Ms. Lopez was unable to sleep for weeks after the incident'.
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Mark Shirian, Eva's attorney, said in the lawsuit the case 'has caused and continues to cause Ms Lopez severe mental anguish and emotional distress.
'The NYPD should commit to more thorough investigations before haphazardly accusing and identifying innocent people of fantastic lies and brazen crimes,' Lopez added.
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Cameron Frew