WYOMING, Mich. — In a statement released earlier this weekend, the Wyoming Department of Public Safety is denied that race played a part in the incident after Black realtor and two Black home shoppers were handcuffed on Sunday, Aug. 1.
Inside the statement was a YouTube video posted by the City of Wyoming, which shows the Dash and Body Camera Video for from the incident where the men were mistakenly handcuffed.
"While it is unfortunate that innocent individuals were placed in handcuffs, our officers responded reasonably and according to department policy based on the information available to them at the time," Wyoming Department of Public Safety Cpt. Timothy Pols said.
The captain said that on Saturday, July 24, Wyoming police arrested a man who they believed had broken into a home. The man's car, a black Mercedes was towed out of the suspect's driveway and impounded.
On Sunday, Aug. 1, a caller aware of the man's arrest called the Kent County Dispatch Center. The caller claimed to have seen the same car return to the driveway where it was originally towed from, with two additional people arriving to that location and entering the house.
When police got to the house, they saw a black Hyundai Genesis sedan, which they said looks similar to a Mercedes, along with a black Chevrolet Malibu.
The police ordered the three men inside the house to come outside.
The police said that all three men followed directions and one of the men, Eric Brown, told them he was a realtor showing the house to his clients, Roy Thorne and his 15-year-old son Samuel.
Brown was able to show police his Realtor license, and they watched as he entered his passcode to get the front door key for the house he was showing out of a key box.
Upon Brown's confirmation that he was a realtor, police immediately removed the handcuffs off each of the men.
Pols said that police apologized for the incident.
On Tuesday, Aug. 3, body camera and in-car footage was reviewed by Department leaders with the police department, who determined no policies had been violated, and said the officers had acted appropriately based on the information they had.
