Eva Lopez is suing the New York Police Department (NYPD) for $30 million after the department mistakenly used a photograph of her instead of the actual suspect on a “wanted” poster. “Wanted for Grand Larceny. Perpetrator—probable cause to arrest,” the poster read.
Eva Lopez’s pic on a ‘WANTED’ poster
Instagram influencer Eva Lopez is suing the New York Police Department (NYPD) for $30 million. She suffered emotional distress after an original suspect photo was mistakenly taken for hers on a “wanted” poster. The Queens-born fashion influencer, 31, has currently has 865,000 followers on Instagram. She filed a lawsuit at the Manhattan Supreme Court against the police department, the city, and the detective. Her lawyer, Mark Shirian, provided the copy of the lawsuit. Libel, slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence were all grounds for the lawsuit.
According to the court filing, Lopez learned that her picture was on a poster for a sex worker accused of theft on August 16. According to the police, the woman stole $13,000 Rolex and a Chase credit card from her client’s roommate. Lopez does not have a sleeve tattoo like the actual “wanted” woman. According to the NYPD, the incident occurred in Manhattan on August 3. However, Lopez was in Queens at the time. Lopez’s boyfriend was the first to flag the poster after receiving a text about it from a friend. Other people also texted Lopez about the picture, which started to circulate online.
According to the lawsuit, both the plaintiff and her boyfriend thought the “wanted” poster was a result of photoshop when they first saw it. Lopez posted the wanted poster on her Instagram page to clarify that she was not the target of the poster”. She even contacted police detective Kevin Dwyer of the East Village’s 9th Precinct on August 16 to report t he same.
Eva Lopez sues NYPD
Detective Dwyer stated they conducted a thorough investigation and obtained surveillance footage from the building. Moreover, they found out that although the female perpetrator looked like plaintiff Eva Lopez, she had a sleeve tattoo. When he informed her, among other online platforms, that they took down the poster from the department’s Facebook page, Dwyer already knew there was a problem before she called. The NYPD had attempted to remove it, but Lopez said it continued to circulate online.
According to the lawsuit, Dwyer said that the victims had shown her pictures to the police. In a court filing, Lopez affirmed her innocence by saying she “had absolutely nothing to do with any grand larceny.” According to her lawyer, “the NYPD should conduct more thorough investigations before identifying and accusing innocent people of fantastic lies and brazen crimes.” She has experienced severe mental anguish and emotional distress as a result of this incident. According to Shirian, Lopez couldn’t sleep for weeks following the incident.
According to the NYPD, pending litigation prevents it from commenting on the matter.