LIBERTY COUNTY, Texas — It’s the sound of terrified children from Liberty County as their parents are pulled from what state police in Kansas believed to be a stolen car at gun point.
The problem is that car belonged to the kids’ parents.
Stephanie Denman, the mother of those kids, said her SUV had been stolen and recovered.
She claimed authorities failed to update their system which lead to the scary encounter for the whole family..
She said her family was on their way to Colorado for Thanksgiving when this all happened.
She didn’t know why they were being pulled over but it quickly escalated into something that’s left her and her kids traumatized.
“I initially thought that we were being pulled over because we didn’t pay a toll with six police vehicles and a helicopter -- overhead obviously that was not the case,” Denman said.
“I was afraid either me or my husband would misstep and we would get shot on accident or my children would be injured on accident,” she added.
Inside the car, a video recording captured Denman’s oldest son, 10-year-old Cayden, trying to keep his brother Conner and sister Elora calm.
Connor would be heard screaming, “No, please don’t go. Mommy!”
Cayden said, “She’s not going. She’s not going.”
Conner asked, “Is she getting shot?
Cayden replied, “No, she’s not getting shot. None of us are getting shot.”
Elora cried, “I want Mommy!”
Denman said, “I could hear them from outside my vehicle and then hearing them back on the audio is even worse just to hear it in their voice too.”
Denman doesn’t blame the Kansas troopers for doing their job.
She just wants whatever agency that dropped the ball to take responsibility.
“I’ve been promised answers and it’s been almost two weeks now and time is up. I need accountability and I need protocol to change because I don’t want this to happen to another family,” Denman said.
She’s now dealing with the long-lasting effects of this situation.
“My children had to witness something horrific. Having their parents held at gunpoint so something that no child should have to see and witness,” she said.
Denman said she doesn’t want her kids to fear police and will seek counseling for them.
Texas DPS said the agency reporting a car is stolen should be the one to update the database after a car has been recovered.
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