Phoenix couple want officers fired after incident at gunpoint
PHOENIX – Dravon Ames said he thought he would be dead if it weren’t for the cameras.
He said he feared for his life and the safety of his family when Phoenix police pointed a gun in his face and threatened to shoot him during an encounter May 27 in an apartment complex parking lot.
He couldn’t help his fiancee, Iesha Harper, who is six months’ pregnant, as he followed an officer’s order to lie facedown on the hot pavement.
He thought at least his death would mean something when he saw bystanders filming, Ames told The Arizona Republic during the couple’s first extended interview Monday.
“At least it will be recorded, and we can make a difference,” Ames said he thought at the time. “We’re alive to tell the story. We’re alive to let people know that this is going on.”
The family’s lives have been a flurry of raw emotions since the first video was released to the media last week.
Harper said they’re still trying to heal – both physically and emotionally – as they publicly fight for justice.
The apologies from Mayor Kate Gallego and Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Wil
liams aren’t enough, they said. Pulling the officer who pointed a gun in their faces off the street and onto desk duty isn’t either, Harper said.
She wants to see Officer Christopher Meyer and the others involved fired.
“Behind the desk isn’t good enough for me,” Harper said. “Sooner or later, they’re going to be right back out on the streets. They should be fired. Their job is to protect and serve.”
The 16-page report the Phoenix Police Department released last week differs from the family’s narrative.
Police said another woman in the couple’s vehicle tried to steal aluminum foil from a Family Dollar store, but she dropped it after she saw Officer Nicholas Welch and fled. She was arrested later on three misdemeanor warrants.
The report contends that Ames admitted stealing underwear from the store and threw it out the car window as they fled. He denied the allegation.
There’s no mention of a gun being pointed at the couple or any explicit threats in the report.
Police said the family was combative and refused to follow officers’ commands. Officers thought Ames was reaching for a weapon, according to the report.
The officers were not wearing body cameras. The department initially planned to have all patrol officers equipped with the technology by the end of the year. Gallego pledged to expedite the process and have body cameras fully implemented across every precinct by August.
Britt London, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, said judgment should be withheld until the internal investigation into the officers’ conduct is completed.
“To hold court using only emotion, without obtaining facts, or ignoring facts, does not benefit our community,” London said in a statement.