Five members of a Black family, the youngest of whom is six years old, were pulled out of the family minivan at gunpoint and handcuffed while laying on the ground after Aurora, Colorado police mistakenly identified the car they were in as stolen, CNN reports.
An eyewitness said the family was in a minivan in a shopping center parking lot when police approached with guns drawn, taking the children out of the car and ordering them to lay on ground, where they were handcuffed.
After re-running the car’s registration, the officers released the family explaining that they got the incorrect information about the car being stolen. The family had reported the car stolen in February, but they recovered the vehicle and canceled the report.
“I have called (Gilliam’s) family to apologize and to offer any help we can provide, especially for the children who may have been traumatized by yesterday’s events,” Interim Chief of Police Vanessa Wilson said late Monday. “I have reached out to our victim advocates so we can offer age-appropriate therapy that the city will cover.”
Aurora police have been under heavy scrutiny after the death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who was detained and drugged while in police custody and later died of heart failure.