Tulsa Teen's Parents Upset With Her Treatment By Houston Police

Landry Thompson, a young dancer from Tulsa visiting Houston ended up handcuffed and in the custody of Child Protective Services over the weekend.

Monday, December 2nd 2013, 7:50 am

By: News On 6


Landry Thompson, a young dancer from Tulsa visiting Houston ended up handcuffed and in the custody of Child Protective Services over the weekend.

Houston CBS TV affiliate, KHOU says her parents are furious at the Houston Police Department.

Landry was in Houston with instructor Emmanuel Hurd to spend the weekend dancing and training with some of the industry's best.

"It definitely is life to me. It means the world. It's everything to me," said Emmanuel Hurd, Instructor.

But that dream took an ugly turn shortly after leaving a Houston studio Saturday evening when the group, exhausted from their work stopped at a convenience store.

"We were on the GPS trying to figure out where the hotel was and we sat there and we dozed off," said Emmanuel Hurd.

They say before they knew it, police showed up and surrounded the car.

"And so I was kind of freaked out and surprised by it," said Landry Thompson.

"They just pulled us out of the car. Put our hands behind our backs like we were criminals," said Emmanuel Hurd. "He asked me who's the girl. She's my student. I said I had a notarized letter from her parents stating that we have full guardianship over her while we're here."

All three of them say they pleaded with the police repeatedly telling them their story, but in the end, none of that seemed to matter.

"They still put handcuffs on me and it really scared me. And they put me in the back of a cop car and I was terrified," said Landry Thompson.

Landry was taken to Child Protective Services. Her mom says she couldn't believe it when she found out.

"I was horrified. She was with the people I wanted her to be with. She was with people I trusted. And now she was taken away from those people and in a shelter with people I didn't know," said Destiny Thompson, Landry's mother.

Destiny claims she was told she'd have to fly to Houston to get her daughter out. But 11 hours later, following repeated phone calls to police, Landry was released back into the custody of her instructors.

"I would love an apology. They owe her an apology," said Destiny Thompson.

"I'm just really upset by it. And it really scared me," said Landry Thompson.

But it wasn't enough to stop her from dancing.

KHOU called Houston Police, but they have not commented about what happened. The dancers plan to return to Oklahoma Monday.

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