Phoenix Police Threaten to Shoot a Woman After Her Daughter Reportedly Stole a Doll

SummerMadness

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Parents say Phoenix cops pointed guns at them after 4-year-old daughter took doll from store
A couple has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Phoenix Police Department alleging civil rights violations and police brutality after an officer allegedly pulled their guns on the family. Unbeknownst to Dravon Ames and Lesha Harper, their 4-year-old daughter had taken a doll from a Family Dollar Store, CBS affiliate KPHO reported.

The family claims they weren't aware their daughter had taken the doll until they were in their car and on their way to a nearby apartment complex where their babysitter lived. That's when they said a police car silently pulled up behind them and an officer went up to Ames and allegedly pointed a gun at him.

When you view people as less than human, you end up pointing guns at children. Pointing guns at children is wrong. Simple.
 

SummerMadness

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I watched that video. UNBELIEVABLY inappropriately handed by that office. What a trainwreck (if it's the one I'm thinking of where they are telling the lady to put her hands up but she's holding a baby).
Yeah, it's that one. But let's go with the worst case scenario. The couple are irreverent thieves with shoplifted items, how does this situation warrant pointing guns at children and cursing at people? And yet again, we have a case where the report does not reflect the video... but I would not be surprised if they are cleared of any wrongdoing as this is acceptable behavior for a police officer.
 
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rambot

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Drawing your gun over a stolen doll is crappy police work period. Could it be cause of race? Perhaps.

Why is it that some cops escalate situations that really don't require escalation.

Story time: After we had a house fire, insurance put us up in these town houses. They all looked IDENTICAL. One night I went to the wrong house and tried to get in, freaking the woman inside. I went to the store to get a replacement battery for the garage door opener. In the store two police men very calmly approached me and asked me what had happenned. We calmly exchanged information and he helped to figure out what happenned. I won't go into how horrible I felt (cause it felt just terrible), but I would say that it seems like, had I got the wrong American cop to resolve that, I would have had a gun drawn at me in Safeway over a situation that no longer had ANY type of bodily harm or safety issue.

Why don't crappy cops who escalate unnecessarily get pulled/punished?
 
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SummerMadness

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Drawing your gun over a stolen doll is crappy police work period. Could it be cause of race? Perhaps.

Why is it that some cops escalate situations that really don't require escalation.

Story time: After we had a house fire, insurance put us up in these town houses. They all looked IDENTICAL. One night I went to the wrong house and tried to get in, freaking the woman inside. I went to the store to get a replacement battery for the garage door opener. In the store two police men very calmly approached me and asked me what had happenned. We calmly exchanged information and he helped to figure out what happenned. I won't go into how horrible I felt (cause it felt just terrible), but I would say that it seems like, had I got the wrong American cop to resolve that, I would have had a gun drawn at me in Safeway over a situation that no longer had ANY type of bodily harm or safety issue.

Why don't crappy cops who escalate unnecessarily get pulled/punished?
And that’s what we call good police work. I don’t think it should be necessary, but perhaps we need to start giving out awards to police officers that simply treat others with decency and respect. Perhaps get a bonus for being a good person.
 
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And that’s what we call good police work. I don’t think it should be necessary, but perhaps we need to start giving out awards to police officers that simply treat others with decency and respect. Perhaps get a bonus for being a good person.


Great idea and perhaps some parents could teach their children not to steal and to be good citizens. Or is that just too much to ask for? A noble but unattainable goal?
 
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rambot

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Great idea and perhaps some parents could teach their children not to steal and to be good citizens. Or is that just too much to ask for? A noble but unattainable goal?
Hmmm...what is easier:
Reward good police officers
Or
Complete a paradigm shift through all levels of society that removes crime and abuse forever.
 
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SummerMadness

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Hmmm...what is easier:
Reward good police officers
Or
Complete a paradigm shift through all levels of society that removes crime and abuse forever.
The paradigm shift that is needed is to move away from the racist attitude that ages up children. A toddler is not a thief, thus any argument pushing that idea is patently prejudiced. Tamir Rice was 12 and considered a man in his 20s. There is a pattern here and it’s quite evident: they don’t want black kids to be kids. And that’s why Black Loves Matters exists.
 
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The IbanezerScrooge

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Great idea and perhaps some parents could teach their children not to steal and to be good citizens. Or is that just too much to ask for? A noble but unattainable goal?

So, a 4 year old "steals" a barbie doll from a dollar store and you're implying that the parents are failures at teaching their children that it's wrong to steal and are deserving of being forced into a life and death game of "Simon Says" with Police?

I really don't think the take away in this situation is that parents need to better parent their 4 year-olds or should expect to be treated this way. There was nothing right about how the police handled this situation even if the adults had boosted hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise themselves.
 
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Ophiolite

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Great idea and perhaps some parents could teach their children not to steal and to be good citizens. Or is that just too much to ask for? A noble but unattainable goal?
Is it too much to ask that concerned adults should recognise the there is a difference between a child and and adult. Especially the difference between the behaviour expected of a child and an adult in a responsible position? Based on your post I take it you think the answer is "No".
Two centuries ago we deported child thieves to Australia. Is pulling guns on them now the preferred alternative?
 
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rambot

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Great idea and perhaps some parents could teach their children not to steal and to be good citizens. Or is that just too much to ask for? A noble but unattainable goal?
Wow. The grace and compassion here is amazing.

Have you never heard nor seen a child walking out of a store with something? My child did it once too...a pack of gum or candy it was. If a cop came at me with guns drawn, he better have more than a few apologies to handback to me about how terrible he is at his job.
 
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rjs330

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And that’s what we call good police work. I don’t think it should be necessary, but perhaps we need to start giving out awards to police officers that simply treat others with decency and respect. Perhaps get a bonus for being a good person.

That sounds good, but it would cost a fortune! The VAST majority of officers would be getting awards and bonuses. The cities couldn't afford it. Unless of course the award was very small.
 
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rjs330

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The paradigm shift that is needed is to move away from the racist attitude that ages up children. A toddler is not a thief, thus any argument pushing that idea is patently prejudiced. Tamir Rice was 12 and considered a man in his 20s. There is a pattern here and it’s quite evident: they don’t want black kids to be kids. And that’s why Black Loves Matters exists.

I haven't reviewed this case. I am assuming here. But if this story is true, these officers violated the constitutional rights of these citizens. AND the Phoenix PD has a LOT of explaining to do on how these officers were trained. No police entity in their right mind would train cops that it's an appropriate use of force to pull guns and threaten people with them, under these circumstances. All the cops I know are trained that deadly force is is only used where someone including themselves is in danger of death or serious bodily injury.
 
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rjs330

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Great idea and perhaps some parents could teach their children not to steal and to be good citizens. Or is that just too much to ask for? A noble but unattainable goal?

I'm not going to slam you like others have done. I'm just going to say that 4 is pretty young to really get a solid grip on the stealing thing. I know, I have 6 kids. You can teach them stuff, but plenty of times they just don't do the right thing. Cause they are little kids. You use these times for discipline and more teaching. So these parents could very well have taught their child it's wrong to steal and their child took the doll anyway.
 
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I watched that video. UNBELIEVABLY inappropriately handed by that office. What a trainwreck (if it's the one I'm thinking of where they are telling the lady to put her hands up but she's holding a baby).

I don't know all the details....but I remember reading that there was a mistake that led them to believe the car was stolen.
 
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