A York County man is suing the sheriff’s office after a Flock camera falsely flagged his car as stolen, causing police to hold him at gunpoint. The Rock Hill Herald reports a lawsuit filed June 29 in York County says 42-year-old Steven Melvin was stopped by a York County sheriff’s deputy in February of 2024, while pulling into his apartment complex near Lake Wylie.
The officer got an alert from a Flock license plate reader that a stolen, dark-colored BMW sedan was in the area, according to the suit. It claims the deputy approached Melvin’s car, a black BMW sedan, with his gun drawn and aimed “directly at him.”
The deputy detained Melvin after ordering him to kneel on the ground with his hands over his head for over five minutes, the filing said. After reviewing Melvin’s information, he determined the vehicle was not stolen. The Flock camera incorrectly identified the first letter of the license plate. The sheriff’s office says Melvin’s tinted license plate cover was illegal, obscuring the camera view.
