Armed Response To Theft By 4-year-old Unacceptable

Following a horrific incident during which the theft of a doll at a Family Dollar store by a 4-year-old child was met with an armed response by Phoenix police, Police Chief Jeri Williams apologized for the Sunday confrontation. Video of the incident indicates that officers pushed and kicked the child’s father and handcuffed her pregnant mother, some of which occurred in the presence of the child and a younger sibling. In addition to physical violence against the parents, one officer is shown to be verbally abusive to the father even though he is complying with the officers. Williams initially characterized the response of the victims quite differently, but eventually had to recant and state that the events that occurred were not what should have happened and that the actions were unacceptable.