The Sacramento Police Department has admitted its officers mistakenly stopped an 8-year-old boy and his pregnant mother who were driving on the Capital City Freeway — drawing their guns and using a helicopter thinking the child was a juvenile suspect wanted for two felony warrants.
“Our officers provided (an) explanation to the mother and her son,” the statement from Sacramento police said about the Tuesday incident. “Our department has been in contact with the mother since the incident.”
The mother, Shanice Stewart, said in a social media post she was driving north on the Capital City Freeway (also known as Business 80 Loop) between Sutter Medical Center in midtown and Cal Expo about 5 p.m. to take her son Brandon to football practice. She noticed a helicopter and at least five police vehicles behind her with officers drawing their guns, the post said. The mother and child are Black.
Stewart said in the post that she cooperated with police and got out of the vehicle. Brandon, riding in the passenger seat, was screaming for his mom and Stewart said she thought he would get shot, the social media post said.
“It has my son feared for his life to drive on the freeway as well as (myself),” the social media post said.
An officer apologized during the ordeal because they realized her son wasn’t the suspect they were looking for, Stewart wrote.
“You guys wasted tax dollars using a chopper and multiple officers to close the freeway down for me and my 8-year-old son,” Stewart’s social media post said. “I’m unsure what to do but I was scared for my baby.”
Police saw from “a distance” the boy get into the car with heavily tinted windows on all sides, Sacramento police said in a statement Friday. It added officers knew about the suspect’s “firearm history” and began a “high-risk” stop.
When the windows rolled down, police realized the boy wasn’t the suspect they sought, the statement added.
“We must acknowledge that a case of mistaken identity occurred,” police wrote.
Sacramento police also added they recognize the emotional effects that police’s interactions can have on community members.