FAIRFIELD-
The Guzman family is happy to have their son back after he was abducted, but now they’re questioning the way they say they were treated by police and plan to file a complaint against the city of Fairfield and the police department.
An AMBER Alert went out Monday morning after Brock Guzman, 8, was abducted from outside the family’s home.
Brock was missing for more than three hours after the car that he was in was stolen out of their driveway. It was later found a few blocks away with Brock still inside, asleep.
Video released by the Guzman family today is showing what unfolded during the time he was missing.
Paul Guzman said his wife was treated poorly by police when she initially wouldn’t allow officers inside the house because of the family’s dogs.
“One will bite if I’m not present when people are in there. So she asked them not to enter the house, she didn’t give them permission to go in the house ’til I got back because I was out looking for my son,” he said.
“Then when I pulled up, there was a cop next to the door, antagonizing the dogs, and so when my wife walked over there and asked him not to antagonize the dogs, and that her husband was here, and put her hand on the screendoor to make sure the screendoor was secure because the dogs will jump up on it and it will open, they manhandled her,” Paul Guzman said.
The family captured cell phone video of that moment.
The family met with an attorney Monday afternoon and plan to file a complaint against the city of Fairfield and the police department.
The Fairfield Police Department released the following body camera video from the encounter along with this statement:
“…Even though our initial information was that Brock was last seen in the vehicle, it was only assumed he remained inside when it was stolen. In order to account for every possible scenario, including Brock escaping as the vehicle was being taken, officers requested to search the Guzman home to make sure Brock was not inside hiding.
Suzanne Guzman refused to consent to officers checking her home for Brock. A Police Sergeant and one of our Crisis Intervention trained officers spoke to Suzanne Guzman for several minutes in an attempt to explain why we needed to search her home and gain compliance. Suzanne Guzman continually refused, at one point demanding we get a search warrant. Officers became so concerned they had dispatchers log the fact we were being denied entry into the home.
Based on the growing concern for Brock, and the exigent need to check the home, officers approached the front door. As they did, one officer saw a “reddish substance smeared in the carpet” that at first look appeared to be blood. Suzanne Guzman got up and pushed past officers toward the front door attempting to enter the residence. Suzanne Guzman refused to move away from the door and struggled with officers as they attempted to move her away from the door. After a short struggle, she was detained in handcuffs. Paul Guzman was also later detained in handcuffs for trying to interfere with officers searching the home.
The officers of the Fairfield Police Department understand the emotional response by the family in this situation. 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.” Read more…
WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
