Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (above) lambasted local police on Saturday after disturbing footage showed officers holding an Arizona family at gunpoint
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego lambasted local police after disturbing video showed officers holding an Arizona family at gunpoint because their four-year-old daughter allegedly shoplifted a $1 doll.
In the footage released Friday, cops can be seen pointing their guns at a pregnant woman holding her one-year-old daughter while telling the children's 22-year-old father: 'I'm gonna put a f***ing cap in your f***ing head.'
The officers are said to have been responding to a report about a theft at a Family Dollar store.
The parents, Dravon Ames and Iesha Harper, say they were unaware that their elder daughter had taken the doll out of the store.
Gallego issued a statement on Saturday calling the frightening incident 'completely inappropriate and clearly unprofessional'.
She has demanded a thorough investigation, which Phoenix police Chief Jeri Williams says is already underway.
Gallego is also expediting the deadline for police-worn cameras to August and has scheduled a community meeting to discuss the matter on Tuesday.
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In the footage released Friday, cops can be seen pointing their guns at pregnant Iesha Harper and the one-year-old daughter in her arms while telling the children's 22-year-old father Dravon Ames: 'I'm gonna put a f***ing cap in your f***ing head.' The family are pictured during a press conference about their plans to sue the city for $10million
Chilling footage from May 29 shows cops surrounding Ames and his family with guns drawn. The incident is understood to have been sparked by accusations of the theft of a $1 doll
The family is prepared to filed a $10million lawsuit against the city, accusing the officers of committed civil rights violations during the altercation last month.
Ames and Harper say a Phoenix Police Department officer injured their one-year-old daughter by pulling on one of her arms after the mother refused a command to put the child down. Harper said the girl couldn't walk and the pavement was hot.
Harper said she was handcuffed after she gave the child to a bystander and was thrown face-first into a police vehicle.
The officer who pulled on the child's arm had profanely told Harper that he could have shot her in front of her children.
The notice of claim - a precursor to a lawsuit - filed Wednesday also said Ames was injured when an officer threw him against a vehicle, kicking his leg so hard that the father collapsed and punching him for no reason.
The claim said one of the officers profanely told Ames in front of his children that he was going to shoot him in the face.
'He kicked me pretty hard,' Ames said. 'I'm still limping.'
'No threat, no resistance,' said Tom Horne, an attorney representing the family. 'It was completely unjustified.'
They want $2.5million for each family member.
The former state Attorney General added: 'We're talking about a little doll that's worth maybe $5 and the horrors that came from the overreaction to that.'
Police said no injuries were reported to them and claimed other stolen items were in the car.
'After this, me and my daughters will never be the same anymore or feel the same for police because it seems like every police is (sic) out for blood or something. We wasn't (sic) really doing anything,' Harper said in a press conference, AZFamily.com reported.
Chief Williams said in a Friday video that she 'gets it' when addressing the alarmed public response to the footage that police say is from May 27 but the family's claim dates as May 29. She also said she stands behind the force as they continue to investigate.
'I, like you, am disturbed by the language and the actions of our officer. I assure you that this incident is not representative of the majority of Phoenix police officers who serve this city,' she told video viewers.
Civil rights activist Rev. Jarrett Maupin, said: 'They held guns on these little girls. They held guns on these two parents.
'They just tortured this... father sitting next to me.'
Civil rights activist Rev Jarrett Maupin (center left next to attorney Tom Horne), said: 'They held guns on these little girls. They held guns on these two parents. They just tortured this... father sitting next to me'
At the press conference Harper said: 'After this my daughters will never been the same. It seems police are always out for blood'
In the clip, Harper, 24, stands by in tears, pleading with officers and desperately holding onto her two young children as the horror unfolds.
She cries: 'I can't put my hands up, I have a baby. I'm pregnant.'
