NEWS 8 EXCLUSIVE
DALLAS — With lights flashing and guns drawn, Dallas police pulled over what they thought was a stolen car Sunday morning on Interstate 30 near Buckner Boulevard.
Inside that car was a pregnant woman and her boyfriend.
The problem? The car was not stolen.
It's a mistake that began with a simple typographical error.
"I was scared they was gonna open fire," said JaDamion Cole as he explained how he got out of his vehicle with his hands up, walking backwards toward officers who thought he was driving a stolen vehicle.
"I was so scared. One false move..." he said, finishing the sentence by shaking his head.
Cole's girlfriend sat in the passenger seat with her hands on her stomach.
"They said, 'Passenger, put your hands out!' I said, 'Officer, she's pregnant! She's pregnant!' They didn't listen to me at all," Cole said.
Demeka Luster was praying as officers approached. "I said, 'Lord, please don't let them start shooting.'"
Luster, eight months pregnant, got on her knees just like her boyfriend. Both were handcuffed, not understanding why handguns and shotguns were drawn.
"I knew we didn't do anything wrong," Luster said. "We don't get in trouble."
But trouble found them when the couple was driving on Interstate 30 near Buckner Boulevard early Sunday morning.
"It was an honest mistake; it really was," said Dallas police Sgt. Warren Mitchell.
Police checking the license plate number on a computer terminal were one letter off, typing an "N" instead of an "M."
"When they discovered they ran the wrong license plate, they immediately released them," Mitchell said.
That wasn't the only mistake, however. Luster and Cole were driving a 2005 Chrysler; the stolen car was a 1995 Chevrolet.
"I thought one of us was going to lose our life, that was my biggest fear," Luster said. "That's why I'm so hurt and terrified, because we are supposed to be protected by the police."
Dallas police say the officers were following department policy, but there is an internal affairs investigation under way.
E-mail ddenmon@wfaa.com
