That’s Not Me
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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On the morning of February 16th, 2023, Portia Woodruff was getting her two daughters ready for school.
I was brushing my daughter's hair up and I heard a loud bang at the door. I was upstairs when I heard it, so I went downstairs. Myself and my youngest daughter went downstairs. And when I went to the door and kind of peeked out, it was the officer standing at the door.
A police officer from the Detroit Police Department.
She said, are you Portia Woodruff? I said, yes. She said, well, I have a warrant for your arrest. And I was like, okay, no, you have to be mistaken. What do you mean you have a warrant for my arrest? She said, no, we have a warrant for your arrest. I would need you to step outside. You can go with us. And I'm like, whoa, no. What's going on?
The officer told Portia that she was being arrested for robbery and carjacking.
I'm like, can you tell me when this happened? She's like, oh, well, it happened last year.
In addition to the officer at her door, Portia saw that there were five other police officers outside her house, in her driveway, and on the street. Portia told her daughter to go and wake up her fiancé. She also called her mother.
I said, Mom, they're here. They say they have a warrant for my arrest. I don't know what's going on.
Portia's mother told her she should look at the warrant. When Portia read it, she noticed that the robbery and carjacking she was being accused of hadn't happened the year before. It had happened just a few weeks earlier, and Portia was about to have a baby. And clearly, you're eight months pregnant. You're visibly pregnant. Yes.
Yes. We were kind of going back and forth, and they weren't listening to me. My mom's like, hey, you might want to look at the paperwork. There's no way. And then once my child's father came down, like, hey, what are you guys talking about? What's going on? They were disregarding everything everyone said. So, of course, my children were there. My youngest started crying. You know, my oldest daughter, she's looking at me, you know, but trying to calm her sister down at the same time.
How was Portia Woodruff wrongfully arrested while eight months pregnant?
And it's like, okay, what's going on? My mom's pregnant, and the police are trying to take her away. I was frightened, too, but I'm to the point, like, I'm helpless because what can I do? Nothing. I'm saying that it's not—they're not taking it in, basically.
Portia agreed to go with the officers.
I was handcuffed in front of my children. They walked me off the porch. They handcuffed me in front of, like, in the middle of the street. And then they placed me in the police car.
She was driven to the Detroit detention center and put into a holding cell.
Their guard is speaking to me like, hey, you're pregnant. What are you doing here? I'm like, hey, I don't know. I have no clue. I have no idea. I didn't even speak to a detective until they arrested me at maybe around 7 or 8. I didn't speak to a detective until maybe 12, 1.
Police later admitted they knew quickly after Portia's arrival at the police station that she couldn't have been the person they were looking for because of her pregnancy and also because of a large tattoo of a rose on Portia's arm, which didn't match the suspect's description. They questioned her anyway.
She asked me about a tattoo.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:15
2
How was Portia Woodruff wrongfully arrested while eight months pregnant?
3:15–5:57
3
What did detectives tell Portia at her home and during arrest?
5:57–27:52
4
How did police use facial recognition to identify Portia from a gas station photo?
27:52–39:34
5
What evidence did the victim provide and how did the AI system produce matches?
39:34–41:10