A Phoenix couple is suing the city after police officers reportedly arrested and pulled a gun on them after their 4-year-old daughter took a doll from a store.
The lawsuit, which seeks $10 million, alleges that the officers committed battery, unlawful imprisonment, false arrest and other civil rights violations, a local NBC affiliate reported.
{mosads}After leaving a Family Dollar store with their two daughters, Dravon Ames and Iesha Harper realized one of the girls had taken a doll with her out of the store, NBC reported, citing a notice of the incoming lawsuit filed this week.
The couple then drove their daughters to a nearby apartment complex to meet their babysitter. When they got there, Phoenix police confronted them in the parking lot.
A video taken by a bystander was posted on Facebook by the city’s police department. In the video, an officer appears to push a handcuffed man against a car, kicking him in the legs.
“When I tell you to do something, you f—— do it!” an officer shouts, apparently talking to Ames.
Meanwhile, as additional officers appear to handcuff Harper, another woman, who appears to be the babysitter, takes their children.
During the confrontation, both Ames and Harper had officers pointing guns at them in front of their daughters, NBC reported, citing the claim notice.
On Facebook, the police department wrote that an officer took “two individuals into custody while investigating a shoplifting incident.”
“The Phoenix Police Department takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and for this reason, this incident is currently being investigated by the Professional Standards Bureau,” the department wrote.