2023-07-31 10:08:16
Melissa Velasquez Loaiza
(CNN) The Frisco, Texas, police chief apologized Friday after a Little Rock, Arkansas, family heading to a basketball tournament in Grapevine was mistakenly stopped at a “high-risk stop.” ”. A Frisco police officer misidentified the car’s license plates as being from Arizona, rather than Arkansas, leading authorities to believe the car was stolen, according to body camera video and information released by police.
On July 23, a Frisco Police officer saw a black Dodge Charger with out-of-state registration leaving a hotel and verified the vehicle’s registration. According to a Frisco Police press release, when entering the information, the officer mistakenly entered the license plate as if it were from Arizona instead of Arkansas, causing an incorrect registration return and leading the officer to believe that the vehicle had possibly been stolen.
The officer then initiated a “high-risk traffic stop” on the Dallas North Tollway and waited for backup officers to arrive, the statement said. Police closed the southbound lanes of the turnpike and made the high-risk stop, which the department says is “standard procedure for stolen vehicles.”
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Body camera video of two officers, released by the department on Friday, shows the woman driving and her son, a sixth grader, who was in the back seat, being ordered out of the vehicle.
“Get out of the vehicle slowly. Get away from us. (…) Roll over. Don’t look at us in the face, ”says an agent who has his gun pointed at the car. “Everyone in the car, hands out of the window. (…) Driver, slowly lift your shirt, just so we can see his waist. Turn slowly.”
“If you get in that car, you might be shot, so be careful. Don’t put your hands in the car,” the policeman yells after the driver told them that her licensed pistol was stored in the glove compartment.
Police say a review of the incident is underway.
“We made a mistake,” Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said in a statement Friday. “Our department will not hide from its mistakes. Instead, we will learn from them. The policeman involved quickly accepted responsibility for what happened, which speaks of integrity. I have spoken to the family. I identify with them and fully understand why they are upset.”
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Body camera video shows the arresting officer pulling the mother aside and questioning her about her license plates. The woman told the officer that the children in the back of the car were her son and her nephew. Meanwhile, body camera video shows the driver’s husband speaking to a second officer saying, “Listen sir, this is my wife’s car. We’re just going to a basketball tournament.”
“I am a basketball coach. Look at this, brother, ”he continues, while his son is heard crying.
“I have concealed carry…Everyone put a gun on my son for no reason.”
Then a Frisco Police sergeant arrived and the officers realized they had made a mistake.
“That is a terrible experience,” replied the father. “You all have to do your job, but we’re all legit,” he said.
“Looks like I made a mistake,” the officer tells the family after his sergeant ordered the officers to stand down and called off the high-risk stop. “I identified him as being from AZ as Arizona, instead of AR (Arkansas), and that’s what happened.”
The father then replies, “It could have gone all wrong for us.”
The video shows the driver’s husband walking away anguished by the actions of the police officers and bursts into tears.
“We are very sorry that this happened. We didn’t mean to do this, you know?” another agent tells the family. “We are also human and we make mistakes. I’m not justifying anything, I’m just saying that it wasn’t a computer that ran it. It was our human error that did this. So please forgive us.”
According to the Police, the review of the incident began that day to determine “what happened, how it was handled and assess what needed to be addressed to prevent this from happening in the future.” Police said an ongoing review would identify additional changes to the department’s “training, policies and procedures” needed.
“I apologized on behalf of our department and assured them that we will hold ourselves accountable and provide transparency throughout the process. This incident does not reflect the high level of service our officers provide daily to our residents, businesses and visitors,” the chief added in his statement.
— CNN’s Sarah Moon contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
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