Photo: Getty Images
A Black family was held at gunpoint by police in Texas after an officer incorrectly entered their vehicle's license plate.
On Saturday (July 29), Frisco police released body camera footage of the harrowing moment officers pulled over a Black family visiting from Little Rock, Arkansas, per HuffPost.
Police began tracking the family's vehicle, a black Dodge Charger, after a Frisco officer identified as V. McQueen made a typo when entering their license plate. According to the Frisco Police Department, the car drew officers' attention because it had out-of-state plates and because Chargers are high-theft vehicles.
A "high-risk traffic stop" was made with police drawing their guns and ordering the driver, who remains unnamed, to get out of the vehicle, the department said.
“What did I do?” the woman asked McQueen. “I’ve never been in trouble a day in my life. This is scaring the hell out of me.”
The woman was accompanied by three other people in the car including her husband, son, and nephew. The two minors were 12 and 13 years old.
After the driver got out of the car, police ordered her son to do the same. Officers put the son in handcuffs and placed him in a police car while the woman continued to talk to police.
“Is he in cuffs? Please don’t let them do nothing to my baby. This is very traumatizing,” the driver said.
“Listen, bro, we just here for a basketball tournament,” a man added from the car. “Don’t do this to my son, bro.”
Throughout the interaction, police had their guns pointed at the car as well as at the woman and the child who was forced to exit the vehicle.
McQueen eventually realized that she accidentally ran their license plate as one from Arizona instead of Arkansas. She admitted to the family that she had made a mistake as officers put their guns away and apologized.
“This is all my fault. I apologize for this. I know it was very traumatic for you and your nephew and your son. And like I said, it’s on me. There are consequences that come with that,” McQueen told the driver.
The husband appeared to be emotional over the incident.
“It could’ve went all wrong for us, though,” he said. “If I would’ve went to reach for my phone, we could’ve all got killed.”
The Frisco Police Department said it's investigating the incident.
“We made a mistake,” Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said in a statement. “Our department will not hide from its mistakes. Instead, we will learn from them.”
“I empathize with them and completely understand why they’re upset. I apologized on behalf of our department and assured them that we will hold ourselves accountable and provide transparency through the process. This incident does not reflect the high standard of service that our officers provide on a daily basis to our residents, businesses and visitors,” Shilson added.
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