Jay-Z to pay legal fees of Phoenix family who was filmed being threatened at gunpoint by officers

Jay-Z is stepping in to offer legal support for the Phoenix couple who was held up at gunpoint by officers because their four-year-old daughter allegedly stole a $1 Barbie doll – an incident that the chief of police says is ‘unacceptable’.

The philanthropic arm of the rapper’s entertainment company Roc Nation has hired a high-powered attorney to join the legal team that is preparing to sue the city of Phoenix for $10million.

Dravon Ames, 22, and Aisha Harper, 24, parents to two young children, filed a notice of claim on Thursday accusing the police officers of committed battery, unlawful imprisonment, false arrest, and infliction of emotional distress.

The police are also accused of violating the couple’s civil rights.

Jay-Z’s (seen above in Oakland on June 5) Roc Nation entertainment company will offer legal support to the young Phoenix family filmed being threatened at gunpoint by police officers after their four-year-old daughter allegedly stole a $1 doll from a store

In the footage released Friday, cops can be seen pointing their guns at pregnant Iesha Harper and the one-year-old daughter in her arms while telling the children's 22-year-old father Dravon Ames: 'I'm gonna put a f***ing cap in your f***ing head.' The family are pictured during a press conference about their plans to sue the city for $10million

In the footage released Friday, cops can be seen pointing their guns at pregnant Iesha Harper and the one-year-old daughter in her arms while telling the children’s 22-year-old father Dravon Ames: ‘I’m gonna put a f***ing cap in your f***ing head.’ The family are pictured during a press conference about their plans to sue the city for $10million 

Chilling footage from May 29 shows cops surrounding Ames and his family with guns drawn

The incident is understood to have been sparked by accusations of the theft of a $1 doll

Chilling footage from May 29 shows cops surrounding Ames and his family with guns drawn. The incident is understood to have been sparked by accusations of the theft of a $1 doll

A notice of claim is a legal document filed with courts by a party which intends to bring a lawsuit. 

Phoenix police released a 16-page incident report accusing the couple of stealing other items from the store.

Police also allege that the couple was combative during the encounter and that officers were fearful they were armed. 

In disturbing video footage of an incident in late May released on Friday, cops can be seen pointing their guns at a pregnant Harper who was holding her one-year-old daughter while telling Ames: ‘I’m gonna put a f***ing cap in your f***ing head.’

The officers are said to have been responding to a report about a theft at a Family Dollar store.

The parents say they were unaware that their elder daughter had taken the doll out of the store.

Team ROC announced that it would provide legal assistance to the family. It is also calling for the police officers involved to be fired.

The company also announced that it hired Alex Spiro, a well-known attorney, to work with the family’s lawyers pro bono.

Team ROC says that it also plans additional legal action against the police officers.

Jeri Williams, Phoenix's chief of police, said on Sunday that she has apologized to the family for the 'unacceptable' behavior of the officers

Jeri Williams, Phoenix’s chief of police, said on Sunday that she has apologized to the family for the ‘unacceptable’ behavior of the officers

Dania Diaz, Roc Nation’s managing director of philanthropy, called the incident ‘absolutely sickening.’

‘There is no place for that behavior in our world – let alone our justice system – and we are calling for the immediate termination of the police officers in question,’ Diaz said.

‘We are committed to supporting the family to ensure that justice is served.’

Roc Nation has offered assistance in other cases of perceived injustice that made headlines nationwide.

In November 2018, the company got involved in the case of a black man who was arrested while wearing a hoodie inside a mall in Memphis.

It also came to the assistance of an 11-year-old Florida boy who was arrested for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance earlier this year.

Roc Nation also fought against the authorities’ plan to deport rapper 21 Savage.

Meanwhile, Jeri Williams, the chief of police, said on Sunday that she has apologized to the family.

‘What we saw in that video isn’t in keeping with good policing, it’s unacceptable,’ she told KPNX-TV.

‘I apologized to the family for the interaction and to be honest with you, I’m apologizing to the community too because that is not what should have happened in that circumstance.’

Jay-Z's company has hired high-powered attorney Alex Spiro (above) to offer pro bono assistance to the family's legal team

Jay-Z’s company has hired high-powered attorney Alex Spiro (above) to offer pro bono assistance to the family’s legal team

A young black man is arrested for wearing a hoodie in a Memphis mall in November 2018

21 Savage

Roc Nation has gotten involved in other high-profile cases, including the November 2018 arrest of a black man who wore a hoodie inside a Memphis mall (left) and the government’s efforts to deport rapper 21 Savage (right)

Williams said that the behavior of the officers was ‘unacceptable,’ and that the department is making the internal investigation into the case its top priority.

‘Having been a cop for 30 years, you kind of sit back and say, ‘What was going on?”,’ Williams said.

‘That’s what we need to address.’

The internal probe is focused on two officers seen in the video – one of whom has been on the force for more than 20 years.

‘I am with everyone in the community who is angry, who is outraged, I have officers out there who are angry and outraged to see this is what brush we are being painted with when I know we that we’re better than that, I know this department is better than that, I know our community is better than that but at the end of the day I have to take responsibility and be accountable,’ Williams said.

She said that the officers were not wearing body cameras because the cameras have yet to be provided to police in that specific precinct.

Williams says she expects the internal investigation to be expedited due to the intense interest the case has generated nationwide.

Earlier on Sunday, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego lambasted local police over the incident.

Gallego issued a statement on Saturday calling the frightening incident ‘completely inappropriate and clearly unprofessional’.

She has demanded a thorough investigation. 

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (above) lambasted local police on Saturday over the incident

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (above) lambasted local police on Saturday over the incident

Gallego is also expediting the deadline for police-worn cameras to August and has scheduled a community meeting to discuss the matter on Tuesday.   

Ames and Harper say a Phoenix Police Department officer injured their one-year-old daughter by pulling on one of her arms after the mother refused a command to put the child down. 

Harper said the girl couldn’t walk and the pavement was hot. 

Harper said she was handcuffed after she gave the child to a bystander and was thrown face-first into a police vehicle.

The officer who pulled on the child’s arm had profanely told Harper that he could have shot her in front of her children.

The notice of claim also said Ames was injured when an officer threw him against a vehicle, kicking his leg so hard that the father collapsed and punching him for no reason. 

The claim said one of the officers profanely told Ames in front of his children that he was going to shoot him in the face. 

‘He kicked me pretty hard,’ Ames said. ‘I’m still limping.’ 

‘No threat, no resistance,’ said Tom Horne, an attorney representing the family. ‘It was completely unjustified.’

They want $2.5million for each family member. 

The former state Attorney General added: ‘We’re talking about a little doll that’s worth maybe $5 and the horrors that came from the overreaction to that.’ 

Police said no injuries were reported to them and claimed other stolen items were in the car.

‘After this, me and my daughters will never be the same anymore or feel the same for police because it seems like every police is (sic) out for blood or something. We wasn’t (sic) really doing anything,’ Harper said in a press conference, AZFamily.com reported. 

Chief Williams said in a Friday video that she ‘gets it’ when addressing the alarmed public response to the footage that police say is from May 27 but the family’s claim dates as May 29. She also said she stands behind the force as they continue to investigate.

‘I, like you, am disturbed by the language and the actions of our officer. I assure you that this incident is not representative of the majority of Phoenix police officers who serve this city,’ she told video viewers. 

Civil rights activist Rev. Jarrett Maupin, said: ‘They held guns on these little girls. They held guns on these two parents.

‘They just tortured this… father sitting next to me.’  

Civil rights activist Rev Jarrett Maupin (center left next to attorney Tom Horne), said: 'They held guns on these little girls. They held guns on these two parents. They just tortured this... father sitting next to me'

Civil rights activist Rev Jarrett Maupin (center left next to attorney Tom Horne), said: ‘They held guns on these little girls. They held guns on these two parents. They just tortured this… father sitting next to me’

At the press conference Harper said: 'After this my daughters will never been the same. It seems police are always out for blood'

At the press conference Harper said: ‘After this my daughters will never been the same. It seems police are always out for blood’

In the clip, Harper, 24, stands by in tears, pleading with officers and desperately holding onto her two young children as the horror unfolds.

She cries: ‘I can’t put my hands up, I have a baby. I’m pregnant.’  

Two videos taken by onlookers show the full extent of the encounter between the young family and cops.  

In one clip officers can repeatedly be heard swearing in front of the youngsters, telling their parents to ‘put your f***ing hands up’ . One can be heard saying: ‘You’re gonna f***ing get shot.’

Ames frantically tells them: ‘My hands are up. My hands are up.’ 

In a lawsuit they claim police ‘grabbed the mother and the baby around both of their necks, and tried to take the baby out of the mother’s hand’. It adds the infant got ‘dead arm from the incident: ‘Island [the couple’s one-year-old child] has been having nightmares and wetting her bed, which she has not done before this incident.’

As Ames is held against a police car his partner desperately tells police she is unable to lift her arms as she is carrying her one-year-old baby. At least one child can be heard crying as they are taken to safety by witnesses. 

The officer screams: ‘If I tell you to do something you f***ing do it.’ 

Ames replies: ‘Yes, sir.’  

Two videos taken by onlookers show the full extent of the shocking encounter. In one clip officers can repeatedly be heard swearing in front of the youngsters

Two videos taken by onlookers show the full extent of the shocking encounter. In one clip officers can repeatedly be heard swearing in front of the youngsters

His pregnant fiancée, Iesha Harper, 24, stands by in tears, pleading with officers and desperately holding onto her two young children as the horror unfolds

His pregnant fiancée, Iesha Harper, 24, stands by in tears, pleading with officers and desperately holding onto her two young children as the horror unfolds

In the second clip onlookers call out to ask to take the children away to avoid them from seeing their parents being detained.   

Ames told The Phoenix New Times: ‘We’re thinking we’re gonna get shot cause he kept threatening, ‘I’m gonna shoot you in the face’. We were so scared.’ 

Another woman who was inside the vehicle was dropped off at another location before the family reached the apartment complex. It is understood the parents had just pulled into the parking lot to leave their children with a babysitter when their car was surrounded. 

Ames said: ‘A police officer, we don’t know who he is, a guy, random guy came up to the door banging on the window with a gun, says he’s going to shoot us in our face, telling us to get out of the car. He hasn’t alerted us that we’re being pulled over anything.

‘If you look at the video pretty good I’m snatched out the car and I fly back and that’s when he grabs me out the car. My hands were up the whole time.’ 

Cops stated in a report that Harper was ‘loud’ and ‘verbally abusive’. The report claims an officer pulled his gun because Ames ‘began to reach towards the center of the vehicle between the front seats’.

Police said Harper, the mother of the two children, remained in the vehicle and later explained that she believed one of her daughters had stolen the doll because they didn’t have any money.   

Both parents were handcuffed and detained inside police vehicles, but they were eventually released, Horne said.

The family is now said to be seeking $10million in damages from the police who say they are investigating the incident in which neither Ames or Harper are thought to have been arrested

The family is now said to be seeking $10million in damages from the police who say they are investigating the incident in which neither Ames or Harper are thought to have been arrested

A police report said Ames admitted to shoplifting and threw underwear from the window. 

No one was charged with shoplifting because the property was returned, and store employees didn’t want the case prosecuted, police said. But Ames was given a traffic citation for driving on a suspended license.

Horne said the parents didn’t know their daughter had taken the doll until they were in the vehicle leaving the store.

Horne said the family was taken aback by officers approaching them at the apartment complex because police didn’t turn on their lights or sirens that would have indicated they should stop.

Their claim states: ‘The police officers committed battery, unlawful imprisonment, false arrest, infliction of emotional distress, and violation of civil rights under the fifth and 14th amendments of the United States Constitution.

‘The first officer grabbed the mother and the baby around both of their necks, and tried to take the baby out of the mother’s hand.’

The footage has been condemned online. In one clip officers can repeatedly be heard swearing in front of the youngsters, telling their parents to 'put your f***ing hands up' . One can be heard saying: 'You're gonna f***ing get shot'

The footage has been condemned online. In one clip officers can repeatedly be heard swearing in front of the youngsters, telling their parents to ‘put your f***ing hands up’ . One can be heard saying: ‘You’re gonna f***ing get shot’

Arizona senator Martín Quezada has condemned the footage on Twitter, writing: ‘This is everything that’s wrong with #LawEnforcement today. My #LD29 #Maryvale community deserves better than this type of inexcusable and unjustifiable rage and abuse of power from the @phoenixpolice.’ 

Phoenix police told KNXV-TV the officer who swore is on a ‘non-enforcement assignment.’ The other officer who drew his gun is understood to still be on patrol. 

In a statement on their Facebook page police wrote: ‘On June 11, 2019, we were provided video of an officer taking two individuals into custody while investigating a shoplifting incident in the area of 3200 East Roosevelt Street. 

‘This occurred after the suspect vehicle was stopped a short distance from the scene of the theft. It involved a man and a woman with two small children.

‘The Phoenix Police Department takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and for this reason, this incident is currently being investigated by the Professional Standards Bureau.’ 

DailyMail.com has contacted Phoenix police for comment.  

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