On New Year’s Day, Pinellas County deputies in Florida stopped a Kia Forte they believed was stolen, holding a father and daughter at gunpoint before cuffing them and placing each one in the back of a squad car. The only thing was the two had done nothing wrong – it was the sheriff’s office that screwed up.
Texas family driving Dodge Charger wrongfully held at gunpoint by police.
In under 10 minutes after arresting the father and daughter who reportedly suffers from epilepsy, deputies realized the error. The deputy who searched for the Kia Forte’s tag had made a typo, the family’s attorney told Fox 13. We’ve seen this before and honestly it makes a good case for automatic plate readers, removing that type of human error.
Before you rush to the conclusion all the deputies are incompetent, at least one expressed frustration at her colleague’s massive mistake.
Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, you need to do what this father and daughter did. Instead of trying to fight the cops there on the street, they complied with their orders. Now they’re fighting them in court. That’s how it’s done.
The family hasn’t filed a lawsuit, yet. But their attorney says that’s on the table. We wouldn’t be surprised if they’re working on an out-of-court settlement first, and if that doesn’t go well then will file suit.
The sheriff’s office wouldn’t comment on the case for obvious reasons.
We believe police should be held accountable for their actions, especially when innocent people are wrongly pulled over, held at gunpoint, and detained all because of a supposed typo. We get mistakes happen, but that’s a mistake with severe consequences.
Someone needs to be held accountable.
Image via Fox 13 Tampa Bay/YouTube
Follow The Auto Wire on Google News.
+ There are no comments
Add yours