A Texas police department apologized after officers pulled over what they wrongly suspected was a stolen car, then held an innocent Black family at gunpoint.
The driver, her husband and one of two children being driven to a youth basketball tournament could all be heard sobbing on body-camera video posted online by police in Frisco, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“We made a mistake,” the Frisco police chief, David Shilson, said. “Our department will not hide from its mistakes. Instead, we will learn from them.”
The video showed an officer pointing his gun at the Dodge Charger as he ordered the driver to get out and walk backward with her hands raised. Also in the car were the woman’s husband, their son and a nephew.
Police ordered one of the children to step out and lift his shirt. The driver’s husband and the other child were told to stay inside and raise their hands through windows.
“I’ve never been in trouble a day of my life,” the driver said. “This is scaring the hell out of me.”
Frisco police acknowledged the stop was caused by an officer misreading the car’s license plate. As she saw it leaving a hotel, the officer checked its number as an Arizona tag. The car had an Arkansas plate. The officer who initiated the stop told the driver she was pulled over because her license plate was “associated essentially with no vehicle”.
“Normally, when we see things like this, it makes us believe the vehicle was stolen,” the officer told the crying woman on the body-camera video.
Frisco police said all officers had received guidance stressing the need for accuracy. The department said its review would aim to “identify further changes to training, policies and procedures”.
A spokesman, Joshua Lovell, said the department had no further comment. He declined to provide a copy of the incident report, saying a formal request would have to be filed.
On the body-camera video, tensions heightened briefly when the driver told police she had a gun locked in her glove compartment.
“Occupants of the car, leave your hands outside the car. We know there is a gun in there,” one of the officers holding a gun shouted. “If you reach in that car, you may get shot.”
A civil rights lawyer, David Henderson, told the Dallas Morning News he thought the family was profiled, and that police violated the family’s constitutional rights. A Black woman having a firearm in her vehicle also may have played a role, he said.
“In cases I’ve seen involving people of color who have a license to carry, as soon as they alert the police to the fact that they have a weapon, the police change drastically in terms of how they deal with them,” Henderson said.
More than seven minutes passed before officers holstered their weapons. One of the children kept his hands on the back of the car as the driver’s husband got out, telling officers they were travelers from Arkansas.
“Listen, bro, we’re just here for a basketball tournament,” the sobbing man said.
One of the children could be heard crying as the man added: “Y’all pulled a gun on my son for no reason.”
The officers apologized repeatedly, one saying they responded with guns drawn because it’s “the normal way we pull people out of a stolen car”.
Another assured the family that they were in no danger because they followed orders.
“Y’all cooperate, nothing’s going to happen,” the officer said. “No one just randomly shoots somebody for no reason, right?”
The officer who initiated the stop and was among those with guns drawn was also Black. She said that when she checked the license plate, “I ran it as AZ for Arizona instead of AR” for Arkansas.
“This is all my fault, OK,” the officer said. “I apologize for this. I know it’s very traumatic for you, your nephew and your son. Like I said, it’s on me.”
The driver’s husband said he dropped his phone after the car was pulled over, adding: “If I would have went to reach for my phone, we could’ve all got killed.”
The man turned away, walked to the passenger side of the car and bowed his head, sobbing loudly.
English (US)