Fox News edits out news clip showing cops cuffing innocent black family which stopped looters

Trigger Warning: The story has details of police brutality that readers may find disturbing.

Fox News has come under fire yet again for selectively editing a local affiliate's news coverage of police officers handcuffing an innocent black family. The incident which took place earlier this month played out live on the local network and showed members of the family trying to help the owners of a Los Angeles liquor store protect their business from alleged looters. However, when they flagged down law enforcement to resolve the standoff, upon arrival at the scene some of the police officers drew their guns and handcuffed the black individuals who'd kept the looters at bay.

This portion of the footage was purposefully left out by Fox News when broadcasting the affiliate's report, setting a scene that showed the police as nothing but helpful which—in this case—clearly wasn't true.

According to the original report, a well-known member of the local community named Monet, her husband, and brother-in-law joined owners of the Van Nuys liquor store in a stand-off against potential looters on June 1. Speaking to Christina Gonzalez, the reporter at the scene about incidents of looting amidst protests, Monet said she doesn't believe looters have anything to do with the demonstrations against racism. "I believe what they're doing is trying to get, what they can get, because of the protest situation," she said. "I have children, African-American kids, he's [the business owner] not African-American, his son's not African-American but you're not gonna come to our city and tear our city up when this man has been here for over 30+ years and helped everyone on this city block."

"We're not doing that. We're not tearing up anything over here," she recalled saying to the potential looters. Viewers watched live as Monet and Gonzalez tried to flag down police as they passed and the utter chaos and confusion that followed. While several of the officers ran after the alleged looters who'd attempted to flee, others approached Monet and her family with drawn guns and began putting them in handcuffs even as the reporter attempted to clarify the error. "We’re putting those in handcuffs right now!" one of the officers declared over Gonzalez's frantic efforts to explain that they had the wrong people.

"I was handcuffed, thrown up against a wall with my husband and brother-in-law, and I'm like, 'What the hell?'" Monet remarked after she was set free. "The news people are here and telling you it's not her, she's trying to stop the situation." However, their ordeal was conveniently left out by Fox News when reporting the story the next day, selectively editing out the footage featuring guns pointed at the faces of innocent black citizens and handcuffs slapped on the wrong people at the drop of a hat.

As Rolling Stone points out, Fox News has focused heavily on violence and looting during the recent nationwide unrest. It has consistently chosen to ignore or defend excessive police force and instances of law enforcement initiating conflict at peaceful protests. Monet stated that while she understands that tensions are high, police need to do a better job of interacting with the African American community. "I get it. I understand they're [the officers] are tired. They're worn-out too. We've been worn out. I'm 55, we're tired too. The same injustice you did to us years ago, and my father and forefathers, you guys are doing to our young black men and our young black women, including Latinos," she said.

"I tell my children this all the time, 'One second of your thinking can cost you your life or someone else's life,'" Monet continued. "This white gentleman who was a police officer who was here to protect and serve, one second of his thinking cost someone else their life, which is about to cost your family their life, and costing people their business."