I don't know what passage you're describing, but this one is implied to be part of a narrative that is told from the perspective of Mr. Williams, i.e. he's the one who remembers "The photo was blurry, but it was clearly not Mr. Williams"

> The detective turned over the first piece of paper. It was a still image from a surveillance video, showing a heavyset man, dressed in black and wearing a red St. Louis Cardinals cap, standing in front of a watch display. Five timepieces, worth $3,800, were shoplifted.

> “Is this you?” asked the detective.

> The second piece of paper was a close-up. The photo was blurry, but it was clearly not Mr. Williams. He picked up the image and held it next to his face.

All the preceding grafs are told in the context of "this what Mr. Williams said happened", most explicitly this one:

> “When’s the last time you went to a Shinola store?” one of the detectives asked, in Mr. Williams’s recollection.

According to the ACLU complaint, the DPD and prosecutor have refused FOIA requests regarding the case:

https://www.aclu.org/letter/aclu-michigan-complaint-re-use-f...

> Yet DPD has failed entirely to respond to Mr. Williams’ FOIA request. The Wayne County Prosecutor also has not provided documents.