Family held at gunpoint by cops over a doll settles claim with Phoenix for $475,000
Shocking video shows a family of four terrified as Phoenix police officers hold them at gunpoint while they were being detained over a reported stolen doll, KPNX reported.
Dravon Ames and Iesha Harper were pulled over in May 2019 after police received a report that their 4-year-old daughter had stolen a doll from a Family Dollar Store, according to AZ Family.
An officer kicked Ames’ legs out from underneath him and another cop yelled obscenities while he held Harper, who was pregnant at the time, and her two daughters at gunpoint, video shows.
"I thought he was going to shoot us," Dravon Ames told @CBSThisMorning. Police surrounded his family's car with guns drawn, after their four-year-old child allegedly walked out of a store with a doll. The Mayor of Phoenix & Police Chief are apologizing. Latest via @cbsnewspath pic.twitter.com/e0KRrMwpwx
— Natalie Brand (@NatalieABrand) June 17, 2019
No member of the family was arrested or charged, KNXV reported.
The family filed a legal claim against the city seeking $10 million, saying police had used excessive force and that their civil rights were violated, KPNX reported.
Over a year later, Phoenix’s City Council voted 6-2 to settle the legal claim., according to KNXV.
The city agreed to/will pay $475,000 to the family in the settlement, according to KPNX. One of the officers involved in the incident, Chris Meyer, who kicked Ames to the ground, was fired and another officer involved received a written warning, KNXV and AZ Family reported.
It was recommended that Meyer receive a six-week suspension rather than be terminated, according to KPNX.
“I made my decision that the trust was eroded and that the brand called the Phoenix Police Department was eroded because of that incident,” said Jeri Williams, the Phoenix police chief, according to KPNX.
The officers did not wear body cameras during the incident, KPNX reported. When the incident took place, the department only “had 618 cameras for more than 2,800 officers,” according to KPNX.
Williams apologized for the ordeal and ordered “patrol officers to wear body cameras and report every” time they hold someone at gunpoint, according to KNXV.
“The behavior we witnessed was unacceptable,” Williams said in May 2019, according to AZ Family.
A doll matching the description of the one stolen was found in the vehicle, according to KPNX.
