The parents of a teenager who late last year experienced a scary encounter with a Florida police officer are now speaking out, KRIS 6 News of Corpus Christi reports.
Landon Chandler, 16, was pulled over by an Orange Grove Police officer at around 6:10 p.m. Dec. 14, who is seen on bodycam video obtained by the television station drawing his gun and handcuffing the teen on allegations he was speeding.
"I was so scared for my son's life," Tiffany Chandler told the television station.
"You could never put yourself in that situation as a parent until it actually happens."
Chandler is shown in the bodycam video trying to explain to the officer that he continued driving nearly 1.5 miles after the officer initiated the traffic stop because he felt unsafe pulling over on a road with no shoulder.
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"So I took the first right-hand turn," Chandler told KRIS 6 News.
"I had, I pulled over, turned the car off, hands on the steering wheel, and he walked up with his gun, telling me 'hands out the window.' I started getting out of the car. He grabs me, put me against the car, cuffed me, put me in the back of his car.
"I was scared — I was just going to do what he said, until he started telling me to unbuckle my seatbelt. I had to double-check everything because I didn't want to get shot."
The officer is not identified in the report.
Lori Chandler spoke out about her son’s encounter Wednesday at an Orange Grove City Council meeting.
"What he is doing in this town is official oppression, and he is not being corrected or reprimanded for his poor behavior by our chief of police, who has a duty to protect," Tiffany Chandler said at the meeting, according to the report.
"I have kept this out of the public for fear that this officer will retaliate against my child, but it is time to stand up for what is right, and to stand up for our community."
The teen was not arrested but was handcuffed on suspicion of “evading arrest.”
City officials issued a statement obtained by the television station defending the officer’s actions.
"While the officer elected not to pursue a citation for evading arrest against Landon, which is a felony charge, the officer was certainly in his right to consider such an action given the distance that Landon traveled after being signaled to pull over and refusing to do so," the statement said.
