I suppose this could have happened in any large city in this country. Or small city. At the least, the Houston Police Department should issue an apology.
Houston cops cuff 13-year-old white girl, 2 black men visiting city for dance video shoot
The troupe claims they were racially profiled by the officers, who refused to believe the teen, Landry Thompson, had permission to be in the city with her dance partner, Josiah Kelly, 22, and their instructor, Emmanuel Hurd, 29. The group, from Tulsa, Okla., had spent the day recording a dance video with local artists.
Landry Thompson (l.), 13, was in Houston to record a dance video
with her partner, Josiah Kelly (r.), 22, and their instructor, Emmanuel
Hurd (c.), 29.
A traveling dance troupe claims they were racially profiled by Texas cops, who cuffed the trio after suspecting something wrong with a 13-year-old white girl and two black men sharing the same car, according to a report.
The teen, Landry Thompson, had just stopped at a Houston gas station with her dance partner, Josiah Kelly, 22, and their instructor, 29-year-old Emmanuel Hurd, when cops approached about 3 a.m. Sunday, the group told KHOU-TV.
The group — from Tulsa, Okla. — tried to explain that they spent the day recording a dance video with a local group, Planet Funk Academy, but cops didn’t buy their story.
“They were convinced I was a runaway,” Landry told the news station.
Landry Thompson is homeschooled so she can focus on a
professional dance career, which often takes her out on the road.
All three were placed in handcuffs and taken into custody. The cops then called the teenager’s home and got her mother, Destiny Thompson, on the phone.
“Are you aware that your daughter is with two black men?” the cop on the line allegedly asked.
But when she told the officer that she knew her daughter was visiting the Lone Star State with the two men, “he called into questioning our parenting,” the mother told the news station.
Landry Thompson, 13, was taken into custody with her dance partner,
Josiah Kelly, and their instructor, Emmanuel Hurd, outside this
Houston gas station.
Destiny Thompson said her daughter is homeschooled so she can focus on a professional dancing career, which often brings her on the road.
The mother said she even gave paperwork to Hurd, so he could show that the teen had permission to be away from home.
“Emmanuel had a letter signed by us, had every contact number they could’ve possibly needed,” Destiny Thompson said.
The teen’s mother, Destiny Thompson, said she and her husband
had to drive down to Houston to get their daughter, who was placed
into the city’s Child Protective Services after she was stopped while
in a car with two black men.
But police didn’t budge and said the parents would have to drive down to Houston to get Landry, who was placed in the city’s Child Protective Services.
Hurd and Kelly were released without being charged. The tried to wait for Landry at the CPS facility in which she was being held, but they were asked to leave.
The two men sat in their car outside the building until the teen was released six hours later. They said they are considering legal action against the local authorities.
Landry Thompson, 13, was placed in Houston’s Child Protective
Services after cops suspected something wrong that she was
riding in a car with two black men — her dance partner and
their instructor.
Officials with the Houston Police Department declined to speak at length about the outrageous ordeal, but refuted the group’s claim of racial profiling.
“Given the age discrepancies ... and the child had no relatives in the area, officers in an abundance of caution, did their utmost to ensure her safety,” the department said in a statement to the news station.
The Young Turks covered the incident, but didn't have all the info. The police did call the mother, but they made the parents come down from Tulsa to pick her up.
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