Police in Frisco, Tex., pulled over a Black family and held them at gunpoint after wrongfully suspecting them of using a stolen car, the Associated Press reports. The family was driving to a youth basketball tournament and three of the four members could be heard sobbing on body camera video. The video showed an officer pointing his handgun toward the Dodge Charger as he ordered the driver to get out and walk backward toward officers with her hands raised. Also in the car were the woman’s husband, their son and a nephew. Police ordered one of the children to step out and lift his shirt. The driver’s husband and the other child were told to stay inside and raise their hands through the open windows. Tensions were heightened when the driver told police she had a gun locked in her car’s glove compartment.
“Occupants of the car, leave your hands outside the car. We know there is a gun in there,” one of the officers holding a handgun shouted at the passengers. “If you reach in that car, you may get shot.” The officer who initiated the traffic stop, who was also Black, was among those with guns drawn. She explained that when she checked the license plate, “I ran it as AZ for Arizona instead of AR” for Arkansas. Civil rights lawyer David Henderson reviewed a video that showed part of the stop and said he thinks the family was profiled, adding that he believes police violated the family’s constitutional rights. “Listen, bro, we’re just here for a basketball tournament,” the sobbing husband told the officers. One of the children can also be heard crying as the man adds: “Y’all pulled a gun on my son for no reason.” “We made a mistake,” said Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said. “Our department will not hide from its mistakes. Instead, we will learn from them.”