From the head of the table, right to left: Mario Alexandre, Sheila Penister, Annette Thomas-Prince, and Samuel Washington—four licensed New York state parole Officers

From the head of the table, right to left: Mario Alexandre, Sheila Penister, Annette Thomas-Prince, and Samuel Washington—four licensed New York state parole Officers

Yep. This really happened

After receiving a 911 call from a women about four big scary people wearing bullet-proof vests, the Rockland County Police Department in upstate New York decided they needed to show up in full force to shut this frightening band of thugs down.

Except, they weren't thugs. They were licensed parole officers, two men and two women, in full uniform, with badges. What they were, was black. They weren't even big, but their blackness, to the 911 caller, maybe made them look larger than life.

Their names are Mario Alexandre, Sheila Penister, Annette Thomas-Prince, and Samuel Washington—four licensed New York state parole officers.



"I was violently pulled out of the vehicle, and I was slammed against the vehicle," Alexandre told CNN's Jason Carroll. The parole officers state that they were all wearing their department-issued bullet proof vests with their gold badges displayed prominently around their necks. Additionally, they said their car had an official New York State placard displayed conspicuously on the dashboard, according to court documents. Alexandre and his colleagues were ordered to "raise their arms high in the air." Alexandre stated he was "punched" by a police lieutenant and was "forced out of his vehicle despite having identified himself as a parole officer," the documents state. Penister said that when she attempted to show her New York State ID to a police sergeant, he "became enraged and approached her in a threatening manner with his hand held on the butt of his gun," court documents state. When all parole officers were identified, they allege they were still forcibly detained and not permitted to leave.

See the dashcam video of the incident and hear from the black officers below the fold.