A routine shoplifting trip to a Family Dollar store ended with the termination of one of the Phoenix officers who responded to the scene.
Iesha Harper, 24, and Dravon Ames, 22, took their daughters – ages 1 and 4 – to the Family Dollar on May 27.
After leaving the store with items they didn’t pay for, the couple complained that the police pulled their car over and pointed guns in their faces.
The store employees had called the cops, saying they believed the family stole items from the store. A worker had observed the 4-year-old girl leaving the store with a doll.
Cell phone video shows the cops pointing guns at the family and ordering them out of their car. The video quickly went viral, and social media activists went nuts. The drama escalated because the family was Black and the cops were Caucasian.
On Tuesday, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said one of the cops, Officer Christopher Meyer, was notified of his termination.
A disciplinary review board had recommended he receive a 6-week suspension, but Williams, who is Black, said the punishment was “not sufficient to reverse the adverse effects on our department and our community.”
“I expect more. You deserve more,” she said, according to the NY Daily News. “Unlike other professions, we don’t have a luxury of a do-over.”
Harper, who was five months pregnant at the time of the incident, approved of Meyer’s firing – although she said she had hoped both officers would lose their jobs.
“I think I might be able to get a good night’s rest for once knowing that he’s fired, and it won’t happen to no one else,” she said. “I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
The second officer seen in the video received a reprimand for using foul language.
The family filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city.
