Photo: Facebook / ABC 15
The “suspects” shown being taken into custody in a recent viral video are coming for the Phoenix Police Department, with a letter of intent to sue for $10 million in damages.
Iesha Harper and Davon Ames and another woman were at a Dollar Store at the end of last month, shopping with the couple’s two small children. Harper is pregnant with her third child.
Surveillance video shows Ames taking a box of underwear and stashing it under his shirt (police say he tossed it as he was trying to run away), and the couple’s 4-year-old girl walking out with a Barbie. It also shows the aunt tossing items on the floor before exiting.
This behavior was observed by staff, with one employee reporting it to an officer who just happened to walk by. He initially shrugs, but changes his mind and sets out after the couple who, by this time, had gotten into their car. What happened next is shown in the now-viral video: one cop yelled at Ames and threatened him and kicked his legs from under him even though he was handcuffed, and another pointed the gun at the car with children, summoning the mother and aunt to come out, by threatening to shoot them in the face.
The family is now going after the PD, saying the attack was racially motivated, since neither Ames nor Harper was charged with any crime in relation to the shoplifting. The family admits the girl took the Barbie, but insists they didn’t know about it. They don’t mention the stolen underwear.
Their attorney believes the cops overreacted because the family was made up of African Americans, ABC 15 reports. She says they wouldn’t have made such a display of force if these were white “suspects.”
Moreover, the family refuses to accept the formal apology issued by the PD, calling it a “sham” and a half-apology meant to do some damage control on their image.
“I thought something bad was going to happen to me and my children. I thought I was going to be shot, like he told me,” Harper said in a press conference announcing the pending litigation against the city. “I always taught my daughter to depend on the police. She had to find out herself she cannot depend on the police.”
Internal Affairs is investigating the incident but, as of the time of writing, the officers involved are still on duty. Only the one who kicked the handcuffed suspect has been moved to a desk job.
Surveillance video shows Ames taking a box of underwear and stashing it under his shirt (police say he tossed it as he was trying to run away), and the couple’s 4-year-old girl walking out with a Barbie. It also shows the aunt tossing items on the floor before exiting.
This behavior was observed by staff, with one employee reporting it to an officer who just happened to walk by. He initially shrugs, but changes his mind and sets out after the couple who, by this time, had gotten into their car. What happened next is shown in the now-viral video: one cop yelled at Ames and threatened him and kicked his legs from under him even though he was handcuffed, and another pointed the gun at the car with children, summoning the mother and aunt to come out, by threatening to shoot them in the face.
The family is now going after the PD, saying the attack was racially motivated, since neither Ames nor Harper was charged with any crime in relation to the shoplifting. The family admits the girl took the Barbie, but insists they didn’t know about it. They don’t mention the stolen underwear.
Their attorney believes the cops overreacted because the family was made up of African Americans, ABC 15 reports. She says they wouldn’t have made such a display of force if these were white “suspects.”
Moreover, the family refuses to accept the formal apology issued by the PD, calling it a “sham” and a half-apology meant to do some damage control on their image.
“I thought something bad was going to happen to me and my children. I thought I was going to be shot, like he told me,” Harper said in a press conference announcing the pending litigation against the city. “I always taught my daughter to depend on the police. She had to find out herself she cannot depend on the police.”
Internal Affairs is investigating the incident but, as of the time of writing, the officers involved are still on duty. Only the one who kicked the handcuffed suspect has been moved to a desk job.
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