A real estate agent and client were handcuffed and held at gunpoint during a showing of a Wyoming, Michigan, home on Aug. 1.

A neighbor called 911 to report a break-in, then men said the incident was due to racial profiling. Client Roy Thorne and relator Eric Brown were a the home with Throne’s 15-year-old son when they saw a growing police presence outside the house. The men said officers were pointing guns at the house and ordered them to leave the house with their hands raised.  Brown, Thorne and his son were held at gunpoint until they were put in handcuffs. Once Brown showed his credentials, showing that he was a realtor showing the home, Wyoming officers apologized and let them go.

According to Thorne, the damage already had been done. “That officer came back and apologized again, but at the same time, the damage is done,” Thorne told WGN Chicago. “My son was a little disturbed; he hasn’t seen anything like that … he’s not going to forget this.”

Police said they were responding to a neighbor’s 911 call and have defended officers’ actions, claiming it was proper protocol.

“Officers asked the individuals to come out of the house and placed them in handcuffs per department protocol. After listening to the individuals’ explanation for why they were in the house, officers immediately removed the handcuffs,” the statement said. “The Wyoming Department of Public Safety takes emergency calls such as this seriously and officers rely on their training and department policy in their response.”

Police officials said that the home had been broken into on July 24 and that the neighbor reported that the same suspect had returned to the residence.

Brown says he would have been treated differently if he was a different race. He also spoke out about his concern about showing homes in the future.  “Am I just automatically the criminal? Because that’s pretty much how we were treated in that situation,” he said.

Capt. Timothy Pols told WOOD-TV on earlier this week that race didn’t play a role in the incident. “The department was responding to a call for service, there wasn’t a racial element to it,” Pols said.

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