The call to Bexley police was filled with yelling and cries to evacuate the Montrose Elementary School playground.

Four police cruisers raced to the school as kids were directed inside the building.

It all happened because a man stopped his vehicle near the playground to speak with his 4-year-old son through a chain-link fence just before dismissal time for his preschooler.

City and school officials say the teacher who told the building's secretary to call the police did nothing wrong. The April 16 incident started after a child on the playground told her that the man in the slow-moving car, which had its windows rolled down, was swearing at kids, they said.

>> Dash-cam video from Bexley Police Department

But Bryant Eaton, 27, the driver, who has lived in Bexley for about a year and picks up his son every day at 11:15 a.m., said that even though police let him go after questioning, the experience was unnecessary, humiliating and nerve-wracking. Eaton said he was talking to his child and did not swear.

"It was a complete overreaction," his wife, Kat Fowler, 23, told The Dispatch. She watched the incident unfold from work after Eaton called her using FaceTime video chat.

"I don't want my son to relate to police coming as a bad thing, but when this happens, how do I let him know Daddy didn't do anything wrong?"

The couple and other Bexley residents, including on social media, say it's common for parents to drive by the school at 2555 E. Main St. slowly and wave, or to speak with children through the fence without issue.

But these days, educators can't be too careful when they see something suspicious, Bexley schools spokeswoman Gianna Harrison said.

"In school safety, we can't afford an under-reaction," Harrison said. "Teachers have to be empowered to make what they feel, in that moment, is the best decision for student safety."

Eaton, who is black, and others have questioned whether the reaction would have been the same to a white parent. Bexley and its school populations are 89 percent white, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Ohio Department of Education.

"I just feel like everyone's brushing it over," Eaton said. "It's not genuine."

Bexley police Sgt. Robert Holdren said police responded with all hands on deck because they couldn't tell what was happening from the chaotic call.

"From everything I've seen, I don't think our officers could have handled it any better," he said.

Dash-cam video and audio released to the public include only the final minutes of Eaton's interaction with police, Eaton said.

The officers who responded to the scene initially were in a hurry and didn't turn on their microphones, Holdren said.

Gary Sigrist, a safety consultant who has worked with Bexley schools, commended the school's quick response. Erring on the side of caution is best, Sigrist said.

"The teacher should never have gone to investigate, because an educator's very first priority is to protect the children," he said. "That's what she did."

awidmanneese@dispatch.com

@AlissaWidman