Reno Cop Concedes Peppermill Facial Recognition Arrest was Wrongful
Posted on: January 28, 2026, 12:41h.
Last updated on: January 28, 2026, 12:53h.
- Officer concedes AI facial recognition alone never justified the Peppermill arrest
- New deposition prompts bid to add city of Reno as defendant
- Case continued despite ID verification and casino admitting misidentification
A Reno police officer who arrested a truck driver at Reno’s Peppermill Casino in 2023 after he was misidentified by the property’s AI facial recognition system now admits he had no right to carry out the arrest, according to new court filings.
The officer, Richard Jager, acknowledged in a January 22 deposition that it “never should have happened,” pointing to post-lawsuit training that clarified facial-recognition technology cannot establish probable cause.
Jager is being sued by the truck driver, Jason Killinger. The plaintiff claims his constitutional rights were violated when he was detained after being falsely flagged by AI as a man who had previously been trespassed from the property.
Killinger was kept in handcuffs for roughly four of his 11 hours in custody, which caused bruising and shoulder pain, according to the lawsuit. He was eventually released after a fingerprint check confirmed his true identity.
City of Reno Accused
According to Killinger’s lawyer, Terri Keyser-Cooper, information provided by Jager during the deposition has “changed the entirety of the case.”
She is asking the court to grant a motion to add the city of Reno to the case as a defendant, arguing that Jager’s post-lawsuit training on AI facial recognition demonstrates that officers weren’t properly trained on the technology’s limits at the time of Killinger’s arrest.
While Reno has recently changed its policies and implemented training to assure that officers do not do what Jager did … it is unclear how many arrests based on facial recognition alone have been wrongfully made over the years. Jager admitted a wrongful arrest is ‘a terrible thing.’ Reno Police Department’s failure to train on issues so important to avoid wrongful arrests implicates municipal liability.”
Bodycam footage taken during the incident showed that Jager appeared to trust the powers of AI and its “100% facial match” over key material facts, such as that Killinger is four inches taller than his doppelganger and has blue eyes rather than hazel.
During his deposition, Jager told Killinger’s legal team that he now knew to treat such technology as “an investigative lead only,” which required further corroboration for there to be grounds to make an arrest.
Case was Pursued Despite Exoneration
Even after Killinger’s identity was confirmed and the casino acknowledged its facial-recognition error, the case didn’t end. Prosecutors declined to dismiss it with prejudice and instead referred it for additional investigation, despite any evidence that Killinger had ever been barred from the Peppermill.
Police later explored alternative theories to justify the arrest, including speculation that Killinger could have obtained a fraudulent identification. The plaintiff has already sued the Peppermill Casino, which settled pretrial for an undisclosed amount.
No comments yet