Cops raced into action after a man called 911 to report a Cincinnati home had just been broken into back in November.
“The house is for sale, but it's not an open house today. And I just seen two male black subjects force the front door open,” the caller tells the 911 operator in audio that was only just released.
But all was not as it appeared to the caller.
Officers responded to the home, where a black realtor was showing a prospective buyer the home.
Footage captured the exchange between the officers and the two men.
The realtor, Jerry Isham, tells the officers he used a key to get in and acquired it from a lock box. But the officers still order them out of the home. As the men are cuffed, the prospective buyer, Anthony Edwards, says, “If we was white, though, y'all would have…”
“We would do the same thing. Quit playing the race card. OK?” a cop interjects.
The two men were eventually released when their stories checked out and the officers apologized.
Isham has been a realtor for 32 years. He told Inside Edition he was confused as he was speaking to officers, adding, “I just did not believe that the police were there for us.”
Police union spokesman Daniel Hils insists the officers acted correctly.
“The idea being pushed out that this is a racial thing is absolutely silly,” Hils told Inside Edition. “To handcuff someone that is potentially a felon is the proper thing to do, it makes everybody safer.”
As for Edwards, he told Inside Edition he's shopping for a home elsewhere.
The realtor and his client sued the city of Cincinnati Monday, claiming they were illegally detained. The city told Inside Edition just before the story aired Thursday that the suit has been settled and added that they regret what they called an unfortunate and unnecessary situation. Both men will received $151,000. Cops and other city employees will be receiving training.
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