Texas police officer holds innocent family at gunpoint after making typo while running plates
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A Texas police department is apologizing after a typo made while checking a license plate resulted in officers pulling over what they wrongly suspected was a stolen car and then holding an innocent Black family at gunpoint.
Frisco police acknowledged the traffic stop was caused by an officer misreading the car’s license plate. As the officer saw it leaving a hotel in the city north of Dallas, she checked its Arkansas plate as “AZ” for Arizona — but should have run it as “AR.”
The driver of the car, her husband and one of the two children being driven by the Arkansas couple to a youth basketball tournament can all be heard sobbing on body camera video posted online by police in Frisco, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“We made a mistake,” Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said in a statement. “Our department will not hide from its mistakes. Instead, we will learn from them.”
The video shows an officer pointing his handgun toward the Dodge Charger as he orders 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 order one of the children to step out and lift his shirt. The driver’s husband and the other child are told to stay inside and raise their hands through the open windows.
“I’ve never been in trouble a day of my life,” the pleading driver says on the video.
The officer who initiated the traffic stop told the driver she was pulled over because her license plate was “associated essentially with no vehicle.”
Frisco police said in their statement Friday that all the department’s officers have received guidance stressing the need for accuracy when reporting information. The department said its review will aim to “identify further changes to training, policies and procedures” to prevent future mistakes.
