Eric Brown, Roy Thorne, and his 15-year-old son being questioned by Wyoming, Michigan, police on August 1, 2021 while viewing a vacant house. (Screenshot via Wyoming Police Department body camera footage)
Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.When cops in Wyoming, Michigan, held a Black realtor and the Black father and son touring a vacant home at gunpoint, the officers allegedly had overwhelming evidence that none of the people they were confronting was the squatter a neighbor had called the police on.But the officers ignored those facts and handcuffed them anyway, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the realtor, Eric Brown, and his client Roy Thorne last week.
The lawsuit alleges that police not only ran a background check on the vehicle outside the home confirming it wasn’t the same as the squatter’s, the officers also failed to note that both cars didn’t match what the neighbor reported in their 911 call.“The defendants knew the plaintiffs’ cars and license plates did not match the individual previously arrested, yet continued to detain and handcuff plaintiffs anyway, including a minor, based solely on their race,” the lawsuit alleges.The lawsuit names the city of Wyoming, the chief of the Wyoming Police Department, and six of the officers involved in the Aug. 1 arrest. The Wyoming PD did not immediately provide a comment on the lawsuit when reached.
On the day of the arrest, Brown had scheduled an appointment to show the home to Thorne and his 15-year-old son, identified as S.T. in the lawsuit. As the trio entered, a neighbor called 911. According to police, the neighbor said the same young man who’d walked into the home weeks before without permission had returned.
Assuming that the same individual, who was also Black, brought company this time, police gathered outside the home with their weapons drawn and ordered the three people inside to come out in single file with their hands up. They were placed in handcuffs until Brown showed police his real estate credentials.“I feel pretty anxious, or nervous, or maybe even a little bit scared about what I do to protect myself,” Brown told NBC affiliate WOOD-TV in August. “If I’m going to show a home and the authorities just get called on a whim like that, am I just automatically the criminal? Because that’s pretty much how we were treated in that situation.”
But according to the lawsuit, police had plenty of opportunities to realize that the person inside the house wasn’t the same one they’d arrested weeks prior, as the 911 caller had reported. For one, that suspect was driving a black Mercedes, according to the lawsuit. Neither of the vehicles parked outside the home on Aug. 1 matched that make and model, and the first officer on the scene communicated that to the others before they arrived.
Second, around 15 minutes after Thorne and Brown entered the home, police looked up the license plates of the two cars parked outside with the help of the neighbor next door. The lawsuit says that police not only should have known that neither license plate matched that of their prior suspect, the Law Enforcement Information Network also showed officers that neither vehicle was a Mercedes.
One of the officers on the scene even said he couldn’t see the license numbers on the cars, despite body camera footage showing that the plates were in clear view.
“The speaking officer falsely claimed that he could not see the license plate of the vehicle, otherwise he would have known it was not the squatter,” the lawsuit reads. “However, the license plate is clearly visible on multiple body cameras and could have easily been identified simply by looking at it.”
“This officer further explained that it was ‘the exact same car’ as the squatter,” the lawsuit continues. “This too is false. The squatter was driving a Mercedes; the plaintiff’s vehicle was a Genesis and it had markings on it clearly identifying it as a Genesis.
Brown and Thorne believe that with all of these facts, police shouldn’t have pulled out their guns or detained any of them. They’re suing for unlawful detainment and excessive force, discrimination, assault and battery, false imprisonment and causing them emotional distress. They also want the city to cover their legal expenses.
The lawsuit alleges that police not only ran a background check on the vehicle outside the home confirming it wasn’t the same as the squatter’s, the officers also failed to note that both cars didn’t match what the neighbor reported in their 911 call.“The defendants knew the plaintiffs’ cars and license plates did not match the individual previously arrested, yet continued to detain and handcuff plaintiffs anyway, including a minor, based solely on their race,” the lawsuit alleges.The lawsuit names the city of Wyoming, the chief of the Wyoming Police Department, and six of the officers involved in the Aug. 1 arrest. The Wyoming PD did not immediately provide a comment on the lawsuit when reached.
On the day of the arrest, Brown had scheduled an appointment to show the home to Thorne and his 15-year-old son, identified as S.T. in the lawsuit. As the trio entered, a neighbor called 911. According to police, the neighbor said the same young man who’d walked into the home weeks before without permission had returned.
Assuming that the same individual, who was also Black, brought company this time, police gathered outside the home with their weapons drawn and ordered the three people inside to come out in single file with their hands up. They were placed in handcuffs until Brown showed police his real estate credentials.“I feel pretty anxious, or nervous, or maybe even a little bit scared about what I do to protect myself,” Brown told NBC affiliate WOOD-TV in August. “If I’m going to show a home and the authorities just get called on a whim like that, am I just automatically the criminal? Because that’s pretty much how we were treated in that situation.”
But according to the lawsuit, police had plenty of opportunities to realize that the person inside the house wasn’t the same one they’d arrested weeks prior, as the 911 caller had reported. For one, that suspect was driving a black Mercedes, according to the lawsuit. Neither of the vehicles parked outside the home on Aug. 1 matched that make and model, and the first officer on the scene communicated that to the others before they arrived.
Second, around 15 minutes after Thorne and Brown entered the home, police looked up the license plates of the two cars parked outside with the help of the neighbor next door. The lawsuit says that police not only should have known that neither license plate matched that of their prior suspect, the Law Enforcement Information Network also showed officers that neither vehicle was a Mercedes.
One of the officers on the scene even said he couldn’t see the license numbers on the cars, despite body camera footage showing that the plates were in clear view.
“The speaking officer falsely claimed that he could not see the license plate of the vehicle, otherwise he would have known it was not the squatter,” the lawsuit reads. “However, the license plate is clearly visible on multiple body cameras and could have easily been identified simply by looking at it.”
“This officer further explained that it was ‘the exact same car’ as the squatter,” the lawsuit continues. “This too is false. The squatter was driving a Mercedes; the plaintiff’s vehicle was a Genesis and it had markings on it clearly identifying it as a Genesis.
Brown and Thorne believe that with all of these facts, police shouldn’t have pulled out their guns or detained any of them. They’re suing for unlawful detainment and excessive force, discrimination, assault and battery, false imprisonment and causing them emotional distress. They also want the city to cover their legal expenses.