Texas Mom Accused Of Stealing Earrings, Cops Handcuff Her Whole Family

Another day, another story about police officers grossly misusing their authority. This time it involved a Texas family, who was handcuffed and humiliated by sheriff’s deputies after a vendor at a rodeo falsely accused the mom of theft.

Raw Story reports Maricruz Cody, her husband, and their three children were at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo when she stopped at a vendor’s booth to look at some earrings. She moved on and was browsing a different vendor’s merchandise when the jewelry vendor from the previous booth approached her and accused her of stealing a pair of earrings.

Cody denied the allegations and left the area, but the vendor alerted authorities. When Cody and her husband took their kids to use the bathroom, they were approached by deputies. Cody says one of the officers grabbed her by the elbow, threatened her, and led her to a security area to handcuff her.

”A female deputy comes up to me and just grabs me by my arm and says, ”˜You’re coming with me,’” Maricruz Cody said of the encounter, adding, ”She says, ”˜Try anything and I’ll tase you.’ I felt like she didn’t have a reason to say that.”

Cody’s husband began asking questions and was also handcuffed, then a deputy entered the restroom to retrieve their 15-year-old daughter and led her out in handcuffs as well. The family’s two youngest daughters were also detained by deputies and held in a room while their mom, dad, and older sister were frisked and questioned for over an hour. The earrings were never found.

The jewelry vendor claims they had a witness who saw Cody take the earrings, but there’s no witness statement or other proof of that and it doesn’t excuse the behavior of the deputies involved. They made a snap judgment about Cody’s guilt and then went on to arrest her family members who weren’t even involved. There is no reason to take three children into custody because you think their mom pocketed a cheap pair of earrings. That’s just frightening and humiliating.

Representatives for the Houston rodeo reached out to the Cody family after hearing of the ordeal. According to KHOU, they released a statement apologizing to the family and offering them a ‘day of hospitality,’ including free tickets to both the rodeo and a carnival. The Sheriff’s Department took the opposite approach, doubling down on their actions and inviting the family to ‘file a formal complaint with our internal affairs division’ if they felt there was any wrongdoing. Maricruz Cody says she intends to do just that.

(Photo: Shutterstock)