Sixteen-year-old Kenwood High School student Taki Allen was swarmed by police and handcuffed after his school’s AI detection system mistook a bag of chips in his possession for gun.
Per WMAR-2 News, the incident occurred after Allen attended football practice and was waiting for his ride while hanging out with his friends. After eating a bag of Doritos, Allen crumpled it and put it in his pocket. But to his surprise, he was swarmed by police 20 minutes later.
“Police showed up, like eight cop cars, and then they all came out with guns pointed at me talking about getting on the ground. I was putting my hands up like, ‘what’s going on?’ He told me to get on my knees and arrested me and put me in cuffs,” Allen told the news outlet.
RELATED STORIES
Allen was searched by the officers, and they found the empty bag around the door. The teen said an officer subsequently showed him a picture of the school’s AI detection system and said that it mistook the bag of chips for a gun.
In the aftermath of the incident, Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers told reporters that “program is based on human verification and in this case the program did what it was supposed to do which was to signal an alert and for humans to take a look to find out if there was cause for concern in that moment.”
But Allen begged to differ, saying that he didn’t “think no chip bag should be mistaken for a gun at all.”
In a letter to parents, the school’s principal, Kate Smith, partly wrote, “Please know that ensuring the safety of our students and school community is one of our highest priorities.”
Allen, however, said that Smith only reached out to him three days after the incident, WMAR-2 News reported.
“I was expecting them to at least come up to me after the situation or the day after, but three days later that just shows like, do you really care or are you just doing it because the superintendent called me,” Allen said.
The teen also said that Smith asked about his well-being and told him to reach out to her if he wanted anything. Allen added that the incident has had a negative impact on him.
“Now, I feel like sometimes after practice I don’t go outside anymore. Cause if I go outside, I don’t want – don’t think I’m safe enough to go outside, especially eating a bag of chips or drinking something. I just stay inside until my ride comes,” he said, adding that the school should work on getting better technology to prevent an incident of such nature from re-occurring.
READ ALSO: ‘I’m not the same anymore’: Teen wrongfully detained by police wins $250,000 settlement
