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California Parents Turn Ire on Police After Child Found
They say Fairfield officers treated them like "criminals" during search for son.
— -- The parents of an 8-year-old boy found safe after the car in which he slept was stolen from outside the family home say they plan to file a complaint against the police department because officers responding to their call treated them like "criminals."
Brock Guzman, 8, of Fairfield, California, stood outside his family home Tuesday and publicly thanked those who'd helped find him. His parents, Paul and Suzanne Guzman, however, voiced their disappointment with the police.
"We were treated like criminals," Paul Guzman told ABC station KGO-TV in San Francisco Tuesday.
Paul Guzman had left Brock asleep in his silver 2001 Toyota Corolla outside their home around 4:45 a.m. Monday as he ran back inside the house. The two were on their way to school.
When Guzman returned, the car was gone. His wife, Suzanne Guzman, was recorded in a 911 call reporting that her son was missing.
"Someone stole my car and my son was inside of it," she says.
An Amber Alert was issued for Brock as authorities searched for him. A few hours later, just after 8 a.m., police found the car abandoned about 2 miles from the family home after a person reported seeing the car parked on a nearby street, according to KGO.
Brock was found inside, safe and asleep. "I was just overjoyed with goose bumps," Suzanne Guzman said of the reunion.
But on Tuesday, his father showed reporters a cellphone video he said showed officers throwing Suzanne Guzman on the ground and handcuffing her because she would not permit them into the house. Paul Guzman said the family had two dogs in the house and that one of them could bite the officers.
Authorities, though, said Suzanne Guzman was hysterical and that they'd restrained her and tried to explain to both parents that searching the home was police procedure.
In a body-camera video posted by the Fairfield Police Department on its YouTube channel, Suzanne Guzman is heard telling an officer she doesn't want police in her home.
"I'm not letting you come in my house, especially when my husband's not here either, OK?" she says. "It's not f****** happening. ... I am not the suspect of any [kind] of crime."
Both parents eventually were arrested and taken to the police station.
Paul Guzman told KGO Tuesday he was sharing the cellphone video to show that officers needed better training on how to handle emotional parents. He and his wife have hired a lawyer and plan to file a formal complaint against Fairfield police, he said.
Former Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness, who has no connection to the case, said he believes the officers were doing what was expected of them.
"I think they maintained their composure and professionalism. ... In terms of any kind of significant misconduct or inappropriate behavior on the part of the police, in this case, I frankly don't see it," McGinness said.
The police department said the investigation is ongoing and it has not made an arrest in the stolen-car investigation.
"The officers of the Fairfield Police Department understand the emotional response by the family in this situation," the department said in a statement, according to the San Jose Mercury News. "The safety of Brock Guzman was of the utmost concern to us. It was the actions of the family during this investigation that caused us concern and ultimately led to their arrest. Both Suzanne and Paul Guzman were later released without any charges being filed. The investigation into the car theft and kidnapping is ongoing."
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