Phoenix Officer Fired for Pulling Gun on Family Over Shoplifting Report

      On Wednesday, the Phoenix Police Department fired an officer who pulled his gun on an African American family over a shoplifting report.
      This story hit the news back in May, when a one year old girl shoplifted a Barbie doll from a dollar store in Phoenix. The girl's parents were unaware she had taken the doll until the police pulled up behind them. What happened next had conflicting reports from the police and bystanders.
      The police reported the family was slow to comply while shouting at the officers and appearing to make moves to reach for weapons.
      However, video evidence from bystanders and the family that got arrested. The officer pulled a gun on the family, asking them to get out of the car. One of the officers pushed the father's head onto the car, kicked him in the legs, and then punched him in the back even though he was following the officer's orders. Meanwhile, another officer pointed his gun at the mother and kept telling her to put down her one year old child while grabbing her arm.
     One of the officers involved was fired while others were reprimanded for their handling of similar high-profile cases. In addition, 72 officers were "flagged" for potentially inappropriate social media posts, and 11 employees were singled out for serious violations of policy.
     The arrest of the couple was one of many cases where the Phoenix police have been accused of giving misleading or selective accounts of events.

Phoenix in 2018: 44 police shootings, more than any city of its size

Phoenix Officer Fired for Pulling Gun on Family Over Shoplifting Report

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