‘Don’t Kill Us!’: Florida Police Under Fire After Viral Images Appears Shows Cop Pointing Gun at Traumatized Toddler and Mother, Issues Response
A police department in central Florida faced intense backlash from their community after an image went viral that showed a toddler lying on the ground with her hands behind her back while an officer facing her had his gun drawn.
Winter Haven Police released body camera footage and supplied details to the public on the incident and police response that led to that scene.
Authorities said they responded to a 911 call on March 4 about a disturbance involving a gun at a local market. According to police, one of the store employees got into a fight with a 29-year-old man identified as Godfrey Hercules II, who pulled out a weapon during the altercation.
He never fired the weapon during the altercation and left the scene in a car with his girlfriend, 27-year-old Mariah Banks, and her 3-year-old daughter.
Dispatchers alerted police in the area to look out for the vehicle Hercules was driving. Shortly after, officers caught up with Hercules after he stopped at a building housing a veterans organization and got out of the car with Banks and her child.
Police apprehended Hercules without incident and body camera footage showed when police officers encountered Banks and the child and shouted orders to get on the ground. The moment Banks got on the ground, her 3-year-old daughter mimicked her actions, lay on the ground, and put her hands behind her back.
Banks was handcuffed and detained.
As police placed her in the back of a police vehicle, her child is heard on the bodycam footage telling officers, “Don’t kill us.”
“I’m not, I promise,” an officer says. “I promise I won’t.”
In a news release, police said, “Officers responded with an appropriate level of caution with the understanding there was a weapon involved seeking to resolve the situation.”
“When approaching Hercules and Banks, officers could not have known who was in possession of the firearm,” the release read. “As soon as the officer approaching Banks became aware of the presence of the child, he immediately pointed his firearm towards the ground at a low-ready position. At no point was the officer’s weapon pointed at the child as confirmed by multiple cameras.”
Video taken by a bystander shows the officer’s firearm from an angle that appears to be pointed at the mother and child while they are on the ground. Those images are what set off a firestorm on social media, leading police to swiftly release bodycam footage showing the weapon pointed toward the ground.
During a news conference, Winter Haven Police Chief Vance Monroe worked to ease tensions within the community after images of the detainment scene went viral.
“The optics are terrible,” Monroe said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” “I truly wish that this child was not exposed to this.”
He asserted that officers only ordered Banks to get on the ground because they were unsure whether she was carrying a firearm. Police found a semiautomatic pistol in Hercules’ car.
“Ms. Banks went to the ground. Her daughter just went to the ground with her. We did not order her daughter to the ground,” Monroe said, according to WFLA.
Banks disputed that claim, telling the outlet the officers’ orders weren’t as clear-cut as the chief said they were.
“I honestly feel like she was following their directions because when they yelled ‘get down’ everybody had no option but to get down because they had guns pointed at us,” Banks said.
Police said the officers at the scene gave the child candy and a sticker to calm her as her mother was being detained.
Local reporters asked Chief Monroe why officers did not immediately instruct the little girl to get up when she lay down.
“If we got her up, where are we going to take her? Where are we going to secure her? That’s why I said we need to get to her quickly,” Monroe said. “There was no one else to take control or custody of that child at that time.”
Monroe stated that his department’s policies would be reviewed to see whether public arrests and police encounters involving children could be handled differently in the future.
Banks was released without being arrested.
Hercules was later released from police custody after the store employee he fought with decided not to press charges. However, a complaint was filed against both men, citing them for affray, also known as fighting in a public setting.