The mother of a white teen who was taken away from her black legal guardians by Houston police officers is questioning the actions of the police.
13-year-old Landry Thompson, from Oklahoma, was in the care of her two legal guardians, who are black, when she was snatched by police after the trio arrived in Houston for dance training.
Dance instructor Emmanuel Hurd, his boyfriend, Josiah Kelly, and Landry were tired after a long day at the dance studio. The trio stopped at a gas station to get directions back to their hotel. After dozing off in the car, they awoke to find the car surrounded by police.
“They just pulled us out of the car and put our hands behind our backs like we were criminals,” Hurd told KHOU. “The officer asked me ‘who’s the girl?’ and I said ‘she’s my student.'”
Hurd said he told the police he had legal guardianship over Landry. He said he showed the police a notarized letter signed by Landry’s parents granting Hurd full guardianship over the girl for medical purposes in case of an emergency.
But the Houston police ignored the letter and Hurd’s explanations. Hurd and Kelly were handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser.
From Gawker.com:
Meanwhile, Landry was taken away from the scene and handed over to Child Protective Services.
“I was horrified,” Landry’s mom Destiny said, recalling the moment she learned of what had transpired. “She was with the people I wanted her to be with. She was with people I trusted. And now she was taken away from those people and in a shelter with people I didn’t know.”
Eleven hours later, Landry was released back to Hurd like nothing happened.
Destiny is still waiting for an apology, or at least an explanation, but the police are refusing to comment.
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