Independence Police Chief Fred Mills believes officers that pulled over a pissed off pregnant sistah acted properly.
Mills said officers conducted a felony car stop after spotting a green Jeep Cherokee driven by Yvette Hayes, which matched the description of a suspect vehicle involved in recent area auto thefts and break-ins.
The officer who ordered Hayes to the ground did not know that she was pregnant, the chief said. It turns out they had the wrong vehicle.
Officers apologized several times to Hayes, Mills said, when they realized it was not the right car. "They even told her that before she goes back to her car to not let her children see her so upset," Mills said.
In felony car stops, Mills said, officers take extra precautions for their safety.
But Hayes, a 33-year-old school principal, said she felt like officers went too far when they pulled her over about 10:15 p.m. Friday. The woman had her 4-year-old and 18-month-old daughters in the vehicle with her and said she told officers she was pregnant.
Security staff from the J.C. Penney store on 39th Street alerted police to Hayes’ Cherokee after spotting it in the parking lot.
“…I believe I was racially profiled by J.C. Penney because I am Black, and I was harassed by the Independence Police Department because they treated me like a criminal and jeopardized my pregnancy and my children,” Hayes wrote on the complaint form that she filed with the department.
Mills said he had watched and listened to a recording from a patrol car’s video system. Even more importantly, the officers never said anything racial or discriminating to Hayes, Mills said."If you listen to the verbalization of the officers (as recorded on a patrol car’s video system) there’s nothing inappropriate or derogatory,” Mills said. “One of the officers goes up to the car and talks to the children and tells them that everything is OK, that their mother will be right back.”
VIDEO
Department policy, Mills said, requires officers to take extra precaution, including use of a public-address system, when stopping someone suspected of a felony.
“They have them throw their keys out the window,” Mills said. “And the reason for that is reiterated all the time with the high-speed chases that go on.”
Officers then will order suspects to leave the vehicle with their backs to the officers and walk backward toward the patrol car. Officers then will order the suspect to the ground. Mills said officers can use discretion and normally would not knowingly order a pregnant woman to lie on the ground.
"Watch it and make a determination for yourself," Mills said.
By Kevin Hoffmann, The Kansas City Star