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Illinois cops were convinced the Black man they had pulled over was the man they had been seeking over an alleged shooting – never mind the fact the Black man’s license plate and model of his car differed from the one they were seeking.
It was only after Woodridge police threatened to shoot Derrick House in the head while yelling contradictory commands, then placing him handcuffed in the back of a patrol car, that one cop decided to check his notes to see if they had even arrested the right man.
“I don’t think this is the right car,” said one of the Woodridge police officers. “This is the wrong car.”
The car they had been seeking was a black Volkswagen Tiguan with the license plate number CN 79384. The car House was driving was a silver Volkswagen Atlas with the license plate number CN 49263. The suspect car also supposedly included a Black man and Black woman while House was driving alone.
That was when the cops decided to release House from custody, with one cop even taking the blame for the blunder, something we’ve rarely seen in these types of videos.
“I f–ked this up,” one of the cops told him. “This is on me.”
But the damage had already been done because House was left traumatized over the near-death experience, considering it only takes one trigger-happy cop to open fire over some non-existent threat, as we’ve seen so many times in these videos.
Last week, House filed a federal lawsuit against the Woodridge cops who detained him; Daniel Murray, Zachary Harvey, Brett Kielbasa, Tom Cybulski, Patrick Prendergast as well as the Village of Woodridge, a municipality of less than 35,000 residents in the Chicago Metropolitan area where less than 10 percent of the population is Black, according to the U.S. Census.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Jan. 7 by Illinois law firm Ekl, Williams & Provenzale, accuses the officers of violating House’s First and 14 Amendment rights.
“The bad police work here was not a reasonable, much less understandable mistake; it was colossally indifferent to Derrick’s rights,” states the lawsuit.
The real suspects were arrested five hours later, the claim states.
Watch the video below.
The Traffic Stop
House was on his way home from Costco on Jan. 19, 2024, to prepare dinner for his family when he came across a traffic accident up ahead, which forced traffic to slow down.
He then heard sirens behind him and pulled over to the side of the road, thinking the first responders were trying to reach the accident.
But the unmarked police car cut in front of him, pinning his car to the curb, and Murray hopped out, pointing the gun towards House’s head, barking contradictory commands.
“Hands up, right now! Put the f–king window down!” Murray yelled with his gun pointed.
“We are going to end you!”
Woodridge police officer Zachary Harvey then pulled up in his patrol car and hopped out with his gun drawn, threatening to kill House.
“I will shoot you in the f–king head!” he yelled with his gun drawn.
More cops pulled up with their guns drawn as they took House into custody for a crime he did not commit, making him fear for his life, according to the claim.
Despite the extraordinary mental distress, confusion and terrifying dread pounding through Derrick’s mind that he was about to be shot and killed by the police for no reason, Derrick obeyed the contradictory and threatening commands of the police hoping that none of them would make any more mistakes of judgment or misconstrue any move or action he took trying to comply.
In what seemed like an eternal and excruciating nightmare to Derrick, he slowly, slowly moved to exit his Atlas while his hands were in the air, fearing he was about to be shot.
Complying with the command to turn around and face away from the officers, Derrick had the thought he was about to be shot in the back, not knowing who would be his executioner.
Instead, he was placed in custody, handcuffed by the Defendant, Daniel Murray and the Defendant, Zachary Harvey, searched of his pockets and his person by both, and placed into the back of a squad car by the Defendant, Zachary Harvey.
Meanwhile, Kielbasa pulled out a notepad with notes to compare the license plate numbers and realized they had pulled over the wrong car.
“This is the wrong car,” Kielbasa told Murray.
“No, it’s not,” said Murray, pointing out that the first two letters did match the suspect vehicle. “CN”
“The plates don’t match,” Kielbasa explained. “The last four or five (numbers) are wrong.”
“F–k!” Exclaimed Murray in disappointment when realizing his mistake.
Less than a minute later, House was released, with Murray taking the blame but also downplaying the blunder by claiming only two numbers on the license plate differed from the one they were seeking when it was actually four numbers that did not match.
But House was not exactly accepting the apology.
“You all threatening to shoot me in the head and sh-t,” he said. “‘Don’t move, put your hands up.’ This is f–king ridiculous.”
“I’m a f–king upstanding citizen, my kids go to school here, I’m well-respected, that sh_t is wrong.”
“You’re right,” acknowledged Murray.
The Village of Woodridge issued the following statement:
“On the day in question, our officers were responding to a highly volatile situation involving individuals suspected of possessing firearms, slashing tires, and discharging a weapon. Given the immediate danger posed by these individuals, officers acted based on information available at the time, which led to the stop of a vehicle that, unfortunately, was not the one they were specifically seeking.”
“The Village of Woodridge deeply regrets the distress caused to the occupant of the vehicle involved. Our officers acted under the assumption that they were intervening in an emergency, with the safety of the community at the forefront of their actions. This was a decision made in good faith, with the intention of preventing further harm.”
But a year later, House is still traumatized over the incident, according to the claim.
“Though Derrick was physically released from custody that day, he has been in a psychological and emotional prison since,” the lawsuit states.
“Daily, he is beset with thoughts of what happened to him, he has nightmares, he has become emotionally volatile, and that volatility has affected his family and social life, and these injuries and damages are certain to continue for the rest of Derrick’s life, because he will never be free of seeing police out in the world, and will never be free of the dread and terror he experienced.”
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