Grandmother sues cop who wrongly targeted her home using “Find My” app — Denver Police Department vows to train officers on how "Find My" app works

TL;DR

In January, Colorado police officers confined a 77-year-old grandmother named Ruby Johnson for hours in a squad car without even offering a glass of water during a time when she was due to take her daily medications—why?The Denver Police Department officer assigned to follow up on the stolen truck, Gary Staab, then seemingly adopted the victim’s hunch as hard evidence, filing an affidavit requesting a search warrant that directly connected Johnson's address with the victim's reported "Find My" app evidence.The search didn't turn up a truck, guns, or an iPhone, and Johnson’s legal team wrote in the complaint that Staab either knew, or should’ve known, that there was no valid nexus to connect Johnson’s home to the truck theft.If Staab had taken the time when he was requesting the search warrant to explain to those reviewing the request precisely how the “Find My” app works, Johnson's complaint said, he would’ve learned that the blue circle pictured in the screenshot is only shown “if a device’s location cannot be determined precisely.” That means that the evidence Staab had clearly “did not signify that the iPhone was inside Ms. Johnson’s house,” but instead, “the blue circle covered an area spanning at least six different properties and parts of four different blocks.”It's possible that Staab didn't realize his error in his seeming rush to procure a search warrant.He also “failed to explain how the ‘Find My’ app works, identify what technology it uses to produce its results, or establish that the app was working correctly.” Due to this lack of information, the judge, or anyone else who approved the search warrant, didn’t have all the facts needed “to determine the credibility and reliability of the ‘Find My’ app.” Going only on Staab’s report that the “Find My” app screenshot pointed to Johnson’s home, the search warrant was “hastily” approved, the complaint said."

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