Police chief apologizes after children handcuffed on ground

The police chief in Aurora, Colo., apologized this week after officers handcuffed a Black family, including two children lying on the ground, in a mistaken stolen-car stop that was recorded on a widely shared video and is now under investigation.

In a statement Monday, Chief Vanessa Wilson of the Aurora Police Department said the officers made a “mistake” during the stop a day earlier, which she said had been treated as a “high-risk stop” because officers believed it involved a stolen vehicle. She said the department was investigating and reviewing training, and she offered to provide therapy for the children “who may have been traumatized.”

“I have called the family to apologize and to offer any help we can provide,” Wilson said.

At about 11 a.m. local time Sunday, police were notified of a possible stolen vehicle, she said. They stopped a car that matched the license plate number and vehicle description, ordered its occupants onto the ground and handcuffed some of them.

A bystander took a video, which quickly spread online and drove further outrage at the Aurora police, who have been the focus of large protests in the city this summer. The video shows four children lying on the ground in a parking lot, crying and screaming as several officers stand over them by an SUV.

Two of the children, a 17-year-old and 12-year-old, are on their stomachs and handcuffed, and a 14-year-old girl is lying next to a 6-year-old, the Associated Press reported. Officers can be seen leading a woman away in handcuffs.