WESTLAKE, Ohio — Harmonie Carpenter, 19, reported her Honda Civic stolen to Cleveland police after her ex-boyfriend would not return it.
“So once, after we reported it stolen, that's when he texted my mother and said, 'Well, you can come pick the car up tonight,'" said Carpenter.
Carpenter said once she got the car back, she drove to District 2 headquarters in Cleveland where she reported it stolen and let them know it was no longer on the hot list.
"After they came outside, they looked at the car, they said, 'Okay, you're good,'" Carpenter said. She told News 5 that the officer said they would take it off the hot list.
"We came home, went in the house, sat for a while and once I came back out, that's when all the chaos happened," said Carpenter.
Members of the Westlake Police Department were in her father's driveway with lights flashing and ordering Carpenter out of her car.
Body camera video released by the department shows the whole incident.
“The first thing I did was call my father," said Carpenter. "He came outside immediately, and he let them know that this is my car."
"And they didn't try to de-escalate the situation. It was just straight arguing and cussing and violence and it was just bad.”
Carpenter's Honda Civic was not registered to her father's home on Bradley Road and Westlake police were still looking at information stating the car was stolen.
"Cleveland is saying its stolen," a Westlake police officer can be heard on the body camera video.
Carpenter’s father was eventually arrested and charged with obstruction of official business for failing to follow the officers' commands. Westlake police say he escalated the situation while investigating a stolen car.
In a statement, Westlake Police said their officers can quickly and safely resolve a situation.
"It's only when the Westlake Officers threaten the man with a less lethal use of force that the man complies and approaches the investigators. If the female in the vehicle, which was confirmed as entered as stolen before officers approached, or the man who exited the home, had complied with the lawful orders of the officers, statements could have been quickly obtained and stories verified. It is likely that no one would have been arrested."
Carpenter told News 5 she believes the whole thing could have been handled differently.
"Instead of cussing instead of just saying, hey, this car stolen. Can we speak to someone? They could have knocked on the door," said Carpenter.
“If they ran the plates and they see my name and they ran the address and they see my father's name, they could have made a connection."
We reached out to District Two headquarters in Cleveland to find out what happened to cause the delay in her car being removed from the stolen car registry, but so far no response.
Carpenter said her dad plans to fight the charges.
