Driver speaks after she was arrested twice when vehicle was mistakenly flagged

Amber Newell's car had been flagged in July in a homicide investigation that she was not involved in.

But MPD did not remove her vehicle from the system, so when Flock cameras identified her car, officers tracked her down and arrested her.

Newell said she and her family are still afraid to drive, worried she could be arrested again.

It's the latest in a growing list of concerns with automatic license plate readers. And now several Milwaukee alders are again demanding answers.

On Tuesday, Aug. 25, Newell told us, "They ask me to put my hands out the window and open up the door. So I open up the door. They told me I was under arrest again."

The moments played out on body camera video. On Aug. 6, Brookfield police pulled over Newell's car.

Two weeks earlier, the car was flagged in a homicide investigation, but Newell was not involved. Still, she was arrested then and her car was impounded.

She got the car out two weeks later and it was immediately flagged again.

Brookfield officers said on body camera video, “They never took it out of the system. So why’d they release the car? I don’t know. Milwaukee, man.”

Brookfield Police Department

Arresting officers were frustrated. They said, “They (expletive) released the car to them without taking it out of the system. He literally said we just got back from Milwaukee taking it out. Why does that not surprise me? Unbelievable.”

Newell told us she told them at the time, "It's a baby in the car. Put your guns down. It's a baby and a 12-year-old. There is nobody who can harm you in the car so put your guns down."

Newell's car was impounded for two weeks and she lost her job.

She says potential new employers think she did something wrong when she didn't.

Now her family is afraid.

Her 12-year-old daughter worries about every siren. "Literally on our way to where I'm at now, it was just an accident. And she was like, 'Mama, I don't think I want to be in the car anymore.'"

Civil rights attorney B'Ivory LaMarr is representing Newell. He told us, "Absolutely, her life is in jeopardy."

LaMarr said they understand Brookfield PD's actions since they believed the vehicle was a genuine threat. "What's not excused is the City of Milwaukee," he said. "She has real losses here. She has real trauma that came from this."

Also Tuesday, 12 Milwaukee alders sent another open letter to Police Chief Jeffrey Norman, detailing concerns with the Flock camera system.

"This is an urgent moment," they wrote, "and a problem that will not correct itself."

The alders want "prompt removal of alerts with 'human-in-the-loop' verification before an alert contributes to a high-risk stop."

Not correcting it could lead to more dangerous stops like Amber's, who said, "I had to get pulled over to get out of the system."

LaMarr said MPD has acknowledged the mistake but said there needs to be substance behind the apology.

He said he expects the city to do what's right if they submit a claim.

So far, no lawsuit has been filed.