The city of Aurora has reached a $1.9 million settlement with a black Colorado family after police held four teenage relatives at gunpoint. In 2020, Brittney Gilliam was wrongly pulled over in a parking lot with her 6-year-old daughter, nieces, 14 and 17, and 12-year-old sister. Police ordered the girls to lie face down in the hot parking lot and placed them in handcuffs. The incident was caught on camera and caused outrage at the time.

Police mistakenly believed Ms Gilliam was driving a stolen car and had been trained to perform “high-risk stops”. British Broadcasting Corporation the report said. They apologized for the incident and offered to provide therapy services to the children.

Ms Gilliam later sued the officers, accusing them of “deep and systemic” racism, according to media reports.

The Aurora Police Department handcuffed and held the family at gunpoint. pic.twitter.com/GkTWKFZqkI

— Joshua Rodriguez (@Joshuajered) August 3, 2020

On the day of the incident, Gilliam and the girls went to a nail salon and returned to their car after finding the salon closed. As the family got into their car, officers approached the vehicle with their guns drawn.

In the video, Ms. Gilliam and all four girls are seen lying face down in the parking lot. Ms. Gilliam, her 12-year-old sister and her 17-year-old niece were all handcuffed.

The children could be heard crying and calling for their mother as witnesses spoke to police.

“Are your kids going to be okay after that? They were being pulled at gunpoint and then lying on the ground. Especially a six-year-old,” Ms. Gilliam told CBS shortly afterwards.

Police said the car’s license plate number matched that of the stolen vehicle, but was from a different state.

Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said that when officers realized their mistake, they immediately removed the handcuffs of everyone involved.

On Monday, the family’s attorney, David Lane, confirmed that a settlement had been reached with the city of Aurora.

“All parties are very pleased with this settlement,” he said in a statement.

An Aurora Police Department spokesman said Tuesday that the agency “remains committed to strengthening its relationships with the community through accountability and continually improving how it serves the public.”

“We’ve been working hard for years in Aurora to train their officers to spend less time on the shooting range and more time in the law library,” Mr Lane said. Washington post.