Bodycam footage shows police mistakenly hold black family at gunpoint over typo

01 August 2023 , 21:53

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Bodycam footage shows police mistakenly hold black family at gunpoint over typo

This is the horrifying moment police bodycam footage shows officers mistakenly holding a black family at gunpoint over a typo.

The incident, which occurred on July 23 in Frisco, Texas, shows several members of the Frisco Police Department demanding a husband, wife, their son and nephew exit their car at the roadside. Officers had reportedly mistaken the car as a stolen vehicle, with a typo leading them to misidentify their home state as Arizona instead of Arkansas.

Footage shows the officers yelling at the group, including the boys aged just 12 and 13 years old. One officer also pointed his gun at at least one of the children and handcuffed him, the footage appears to show. The mother and her son reportedly exited the car while the father and nephew remained inside.

The mother, who was driving the car informs an officer that she is from Little Rock, Arkansas, and has "never been in trouble a day in my life". She then looks over at her young son before asking, “Is he in cuffs? This is very traumatizing", reports NBC News.

A police admitted a typo while running the plates had led to the roadside incident (Frisco Police Dept)

An officer who ran the family's licence plate after they travelled to the state for a basketball tournament admitted the error had caused the car to show up as stolen on their system, appearing as an AZ plate instead of AR.

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During the police stop, bodycam footage shows the officer saying: "It looks like I made a mistake. So I ran it AZ for Arizona instead of AR and that's what happened. The husband later appears to become emotional, saying: "It could’ve went all wrong for us though."

Two children aged just 12 and 13 were caught up in the incident, which the mum described as 'traumatising' (Frisco Police Dept)

He adds: “If I would’ve went to reach for my phone, we could’ve all got killed.". Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said the department “made a mistake” and “will not hide from its mistakes". He added: “Instead, we will learn from them. The officer involved quickly accepted responsibility for what happened, which speaks to integrity."

Abigail O'Leary