The Legal Aid Society called for an end to the City’s unauthorized and unregulated local DNA databank after obtaining a Freedom of Information Law disclosure which revealed that the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) contaminated a DNA sample that lead to the wrongful arrest and prosecution of a New York City man, reports the New York Daily News.

“Given the NYPD’s rampant DNA collection of countless New Yorkers, this person could have been nearly anyone, including a child as young as 12. Lawmakers have an obligation to end this completely unauthorized practice before another New Yorker is wrongfully arrested and prosecuted,” sand Terri Rosenblatt, Supervising Attorney of the DNA Unit at The Legal Aid Society.