Phoenix to pay $475K to family after officer pointed a gun at them in viral shoplifting case
PHOENIX - The Phoenix City Council is expected to approve a $475,000 payout on Wednesday to a couple after police officers pointed guns at their family, threatening to shoot the father in front of his fiancée and children. The officers confronted the family last year because one of the children, a 4-year-old, had taken a doll from a dollar store.
A person recorded the incident in May 2019 on a cellphone, and the footage went viral, putting the Phoenix Police Department under scrutiny following a deadly year of police shootings.
Tom Horne, the state's former attorney general and the lawyer for Dravon Ames and Iesha Harper, had filed a notice of claim in June 2019 asking for $10 million, claiming the officers had used excessive force.
The proposed payout is one of the latest settlements the city of Phoenix has entered into in connection to excessive-force or wrongful-death claims that have totaled in millions of dollars.
Analysis: Every 5 days, an Arizona officer shoots someone
From 2019: Phoenix police officer involved in viral video stop of couple fired
Family's case drew national criticism to Phoenix police
The proposed settlement comes during a year when officers across the country, including in Phoenix, have come under intense scrutiny for their use of force. Mass protests were prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May but have continued in the Phoenix area on behalf of people killed by law enforcement here.
The Phoenix Police Department, one of the largest police forces in the country, has been the subject of criticism for using force against, pointing guns at and shooting Black and Native American residents at higher rates in comparison to the city's population. It also has one of the highest police shooting rates in the country.
The incident involving Drames and Harper prompted some changes in the department, among them:
Phoenix police began to have a written report each time an officer points a gun at a person.
Mayor Kate Gallego created an ad-hoc committee to gather police reform recommendations from community members.
And now-former officer Christopher Meyer was fired by Police Chief Jeri Williams four months after the incident. The Police Department's Disciplinary Review Board recommended Meyers receive a 240-hour unpaid suspension for his actions in the police stop. But, Williams had said, that wasn't enough.
"A 240-hour suspension is just not sufficient to reverse the adverse effects of his actions on our department, and our community," she said at the time.
From 2019: Phoenix family in viral arrest video wants officers fired
Started with a stolen doll
The couple said it all stemmed from an anonymous call to police that their daughter stole a doll from a Family Dollar store — something the family says was an accident.
Ames said they were dropping off their daughter at the babysitter's apartment when an officer stopped them. He alleged the officers didn't use lights or sirens before they walked over to the parked car carrying Ames, Harper and their two daughters, ages 4 and 1.
"Next thing you know, a police officer ... comes up, open the door, banging on the window with a gun, saying he's gonna shoot us in the face, telling us to get out of the car," Ames said during a news conference.
In one of the videos, which was recorded by a resident of the apartment complex, officers can be heard yelling and cursing at the couple.
Meyer then goes to the back driver's side door but could not open it because it was malfunctioning, the notice of claim detailed. He bangs on the window and tells Harper, who was pregnant and holding her 1-year-old, to open the door and to put her hands up. She tells him it wouldn't open and that her hands were up.
A second officer then comes up to the front seat of the car with his gun drawn and points his weapon at Ames, according to the notice of claim. The officer pulls Ames out of the car.
From 2019: Phoenix mayor apologizes after video shows police pointing gun on family accused of shoplifting
Another video starts with Ames lying flat on the pavement as a Phoenix police officer handcuffs him. Ames is then pulled off the ground and pressed up against a police car before the officer kicks out one of his legs. Ames is handcuffed at this time.
"He told the father to spread his legs, which the father did," the notice of claim the family filed with the city detailed. "The officer kicked him in the right leg so hard that the father collapsed, and then the officer yanked him back up. He kept his knee between the father’s legs. He punched the father very hard in the back for no reason."
Harper and her two daughters then step out of the car. One of the officers attempts to grab one of the daughters from Harper while he's trying to take the mother into custody. She refuses to follow the officer's orders to place the baby on the hot pavement.
The family said the baby was injured when the officer pulled her by the arm. Harper ultimately handed the baby off to a resident of the apartment complex.
Ames was kept in the back of a police car for 30 minutes and Harper for 15. Ames told the officers he owned the car when questioned if he stole it. They were released after another lieutenant came and defused the situation, according to the claim. Neither Ames nor Harper was charged in connection with the incident.
The officers were not wearing body cameras.
From 2019: Hundreds of protesters attend gather at Phoenix council meeting after viral arrest video
Follow Uriel Garcia on Twitter @ujohnnyg.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix to pay $475K to family from viral shoplifting incident
