Flock license plate reader falsely links San Diego man to crime

When Hugo Parra was arrested last year on felony charges, his pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears.

San Diego police had a description of the Alfa Romeo car he was riding in and a witness who identified him during a curbside lineup as the man who brandished a handgun in Golden Hill. They had also checked the city’s automatic license plate camera system, run by the private company Flock, and got a “hit,” substantiating the claim.

The problem, says attorney Alex Coolman, was that Parra was five miles away from Golden Hill at the time of the crime, and the so-called hit from the license plate reader was captured before any police pursuit began.

“This Flock hit was obviously the wrong car, as it could not have been in both places simultaneously,” said Coolman, who represents Parra and the driver, 23-year-old Ariel Beltran.

Despite the signs pointing to it being a different Alfa Romeo, police arrested Beltran and Parra.

Nonetheless, Parra spent nearly one month behind bars, missing Thanksgiving and other special events with his family, before the assault with a firearm and evasion charges were dropped.

“I was in disbelief,” Parra told Times of San Diego in an email. “Sitting in jail, I was full of fear and adrenaline because I was being charged with a violent crime. I was placed with a high-power, dangerous population. I remember a specific man there had murdered two people, but there were a few more murderers.”

Now Parra and Beltran are preparing to sue the city for civil rights violations and negligence.

San Diego Police and the city attorney’s office declined to comment on pending litigation.

San Diego’s surveillance systems

For years, officials have argued that mass surveillance is worth the cost, both socially and economically, because it gathers incontrovertible proof of someone’s guilt or innocence. However, there’ve also been numerous examples across the United States of people being falsely arrested due to mistakes, either because officers failed to analyze the data or because of faulty surveillance tools.

“Mass surveillance without any sense of skepticism, or common sense, is a recipe for disaster,” Coolman said in an interview. “Law enforcement will come up with false positives all the time, the broader the surveillance net is cast.”

In this instance, San Diego Police reports show that officers were relying on a description of a red Italian sports car with tinted windows because they didn’t catch the license plate of the car that sped off. But even if they had, the problem remains that machines themselves have been known to misread numbers.

Just last month, the Institute for Justice identified at least 17 cases in the United States of officers allegedly using Automated License Plate Reader technology to keep tabs on partners, exes, and strangers who had caught their eye.

The Flock system has been controversial in San Diego as well. But, while other cities have dropped the company and not renewed contracts for sharing data with federal agencies, including immigration authorities, San Diego presses ahead.

In November 2023, the city entered into a $7 million contract with Flock Systems and Ubicquia, Inc., to get the streetlight cameras and license plate readers up and running and an additional $2 million annually for the service.

In December 2025, the San Diego Police Department looked to bolster its license plate reader program. As reported by Axios in April 2026, the San Diego Police signed a contract to pilot a Flock data-integration platform. The platform, Flock Nova, enabled the cameras to capture audio, video, and, according to the contract obtained by Times of San Diego, to retrieve data from connected devices.

The department told Axios, however, that it did not plan to use the new platform.

The false Flock hit and false arrest

On Nov. 26, 2025, the afternoon before Thanksgiving, San Diego Police responded to an attempted carjacking call in the 2800 block of E Street. Police tried to stop a red Alfa Romeo 10 minutes later on Broadway. The driver fled, driving on the wrong side of the road, speeding onto the 94 West, then I-5 North. Officers lost sight of the car near West Quince Street and India Street, near Little Italy, as the red Alfa Romeo reached speeds of 100 miles per hour. Officers, however, were unable to get a clear look at the Alfa Romeo’s license plate number.

As police looked for the suspect near downtown, the victim described the would-be carjacker as, according to the police report, “a Hispanic male, in his 20’s, tan/medium skin tone” with a goatee and dressed in a gray hoodie, “with the hood up.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, five miles away in Old Town, just 23 seconds after San Police Officers in Golden Hill tried stopping the suspected carjacker, a Flock Automated License Plate Reader captured a photo of a red Alfa Romeo driving on the 2200 block of Moore Street.

Detective Gary Gonzales, one of the officers in pursuit of the suspected carjacker, received the photo from the Flock license plate reader and, according to his report, “recognized the vehicle in the image as the vehicle [we] were pursuing due to the red paint and black tinted windows.”

A San Diego Police Officer in Old Town spotted what he believed was the red Alfa Romeo and watched as Parra, Beltran, and another man exited the car and headed into a cigar lounge.

The officer informed dispatch that one of the men, whom the officer described as a “heavy-set Hispanic male, wearing a white hoodie,” matched the victim’s description, other than having a different-colored hooded sweatshirt.

Officers went into the cigar lounge and arrested Parra, Beltran, and their friend, Christian Lopez.

During a police interview, Parra told officers of his whereabouts before heading to Old Town.

“My friend picked me up from my apartment in his red Alfa Romeo, then drove straight to the Cigar Shop right there,” Parra said. “Nothing else happened. I am on probation, and I have a fourth waiver.”

Despite the men all stating that they were not in Golden Hill and did not have any weapons, police brought the carjacking victim to Old Town to help identify them.

The victim said he recognized Parra. “I know, because the jacket and the beard. The skin color,” reads the police report.

A police search of the car found no weapons. Despite the contrasting information, police transported Beltran and Parra to Central Jail.

Beltran bailed out the following day. He then spent several days calling and emailing the detective to protest his innocence. He even visited the Central Division station with the hope of clearing his name.

“It seemed like he was there, but just didn’t care to talk to me,” Beltran told Times of San Diego in response to written questions. “The only time he answered was when the case was dismissed, stating I was able to go pick up my phone.”

Police reports, obtained by Times of San Diego, show that, after being arrested, Parra and Beltran told the officers that they had just come from downtown. Their tort claim notes that the path the men took to the cigar lounge passed by several other Flock cameras, which could have corroborated their story, as well as the location data on their cell phones.

For Parra and Beltran, both with criminal records, the arrest can have lasting impacts.

While officials argue that surveillance can exonerate the innocent, activists have countered that these systems put people like Parra and Beltran in a vulnerable position because their every interaction with law enforcement is colored by their past. Once they get into a courtroom, judges will consider those records.

Parra was on probation in November 2025, and so his probation officer was notified of the arrest.

The men’s tort claims, filed in April and obtained by Times of San Diego through a California Public Records Act request, argue that San Diego Police misread its own surveillance system and ignored exculpatory evidence in a rush to judgment.

The men’s claims seek $1.5 million apiece in damages.

Now, nearly eight months later, Parra still feels like he’s under a cloud of suspicion — paranoid whenever a police officer or patrol vehicle comes into view.

“I remember all the horrible accusations being said by the [district attorney] and judge about me, and how I was a dangerous threat to the public,” Parra wrote. “I was able to experience being seen as guilty until proven innocent instead of the other way around.”

Attorney Coolman says the city has denied the men’s claims, meaning he will soon file a lawsuit on their behalf.

The San Diego Police Department declined to comment for this story.