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Police in Wyoming, Michigan backtrack after handcuffing two African-American men and a 15-year-old African-American teenager for simply visiting a house for sale.
Last Sunday, Army veteran Roy Thorne and his son Samuel, 15, went with their real estate agent Roy Brown to visit a house in the Grand Rapids area and quickly found themselves handcuffed by half a dozen cops – after a neighbor saw the men entered the house and reported a break-in.
Thorne and Brown say this altercation would never have happened if they were white.
“A SWAT team, that’s what it felt like,” Brown told the Washington Post.
The three were looking at the house peacefully when Thorne realized that the house was surrounded by police.
Thorne then “told his son and Brown to come down and stay out of the windows.”
Thorne spotted an officer in the backyard and called him several times through an open window. The officer pointed his gun at Thorne, he said, causing him to bend down. He told the officer that there were three of them in the house and they came out with their hands up. He made sure his son was behind him.
“I was scared,” Thorne said. “I was afraid for my son.
Brown said he thought, “We’re going to die today.”
All three were handcuffed and placed in police vehicles and were not released until after Brown showed his real estate credentials and was allowed to explain the situation.
Officers then spoke to the white couple who called 911, but the damage was done.
Thorne says Samuel, 15, is now “paranoid,” adding:
“I don’t understand how we were treated as a threat when we clearly aren’t. If we were white that wouldn’t happen, “Thorne said, adding” that there had been up to 40 uneventful screenings in the three weeks this house had been on the market. “
The Wyoming Police Department released a statement to the Post which read, “On August 1, our officers responded to a 911 call from a neighbor reporting that a house was broken into. Officers were aware that a previous burglary had taken place at the same address on July 24 and that a suspect had been arrested and charged with illegal entry during this incident.
“The caller said the previously arrested suspect returned and re-entered the house,” the statement continued. “When the officers arrived, there were people inside the residence in question. The officers asked the individuals to leave the house and handcuffed them according to department protocol. After hearing the individuals explain why they were in the house, the officers immediately removed the handcuffs. The Wyoming Department of Public Safety takes emergency calls like this seriously, and officers rely on their training and departmental policy to respond to them. “
For his part, Brown was fuming: “Why didn’t the police check his license plate?” Why didn’t the officers announce themselves? Why didn’t they just ring the bell? I’m just really confused, and it’s… great, super stressful.
“If you see a crime, report a crime,” Thorne said. “But if you see us living life the same way you do, let us do it.”
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