EASTPOINTE, Mich. – A family claims their three children were assaulted by Eastpointe police while trying to get into an Uber to go home from school.
Eastpointe High School student Daniel Willingham, 16, and his two younger sisters had just been dismissed from school Thursday (May 4) when they went to get into their Uber at the adjacent shopping plaza.
Willingham said police were on the scene of the shopping plaza breaking up a fight and asked the kids not to walk toward the Uber. The siblings were not involved in the fight but said police were doing crowd control for the entire area.
“I tell them that you can’t tell us to go that way because we paid for the Uber, and we’re getting in it to go home,” Willingham said. “So they eventually stopped us.”
The family said that’s when things got physical.
“I felt hurt physically and emotionally because of what they did, and it wasn’t just one policeman, it was two,” said Skyla Willingham, 15. “I’m this small, so I don’t see why they had to have two policemen on me.”
Skyla was the only one of the siblings detained and taken to the police department, where she was given a public nuisance ticket that carries a $385 fine.
The kids say they were all physically handled by police, including the youngest, 13-year-old Sariah Willingham.
“They told me to sit down, but a different cop came and told me to stand up, so I didn’t know what to do,” Sariah said.
The kids’ parents were on the phone with them as it was happening.
“To be on the other side of the line hearing my children scream and tell the officers to let them go,” said their mom, Danisha Triplett. “Anxiety was just going through me, and I just dropped everything I did to run to where my children were.”
All three children were taken to the hospital for minor injuries.
The family filed a formal complaint with Eastpointe police on Friday. They are considering taking legal action.
Local 4 reached out to Eastpointe police for comment, requesting to see the officer’s body camera video from the incident.
Eastpointe police Lt. Robert Koenigsman said he received the complaint and forwarded it to the appropriate supervisor to investigate.
He had not reviewed the videos at the time of comment.
