Pinellas County father says deputies drew guns on him, teenage daughter during wrongful traffic stop
LARGO, Fla. - A Pinellas County father demanded answers Wednesday following what he described as a frightening wrongful traffic stop that included deputies drawing their guns on him and his teenage daughter.
Jason Frederico, 54, was on the way back from dinner with his 16-year-old daughter on New Year's Day when a Pinellas County deputy pulled him over. He quickly realized, however, that this was not an ordinary traffic stop.
"As soon as I turned and looked behind me, that's when I heard the cop screaming, 'let me see your hands! Let me see your hands!' And of course I put my hands out the window," said Frederico.
He said more deputies arrived and several drew their guns. After Frederico was ordered out of his car, handcuffed and put in the patrol car, he said his daughter was handcuffed too.
"I'm screaming, 'hey, she's got epilepsy, you know, what are you doing? She's 16!'" Frederico said.
The answer Frederico received shocked him. He said the deputy had a typo when he ran a search on Frederico's license plate, and it came back as a stolen vehicle from New Mexico.
Frederico's attorney, T.J. Grimaldi, said that wasn't the only mistake.
"They never asked for his license. They never asked for his registration," said Grimaldi, adding the deputy should have noticed the incorrectly-typed tag was actually from New Mexico, while Frederico has a Florida plate. "He would have quickly noticed right then and there that the car in front of him had a Florida plate on it, and the car that he was supposedly pulling over that was stolen had a New Mexico plate."
Frederico has notified the sheriff's office he plans to file a lawsuit. In the meantime, he and his daughter are receiving therapy.
"It's traumatizing for her," he said, adding he's relieved it didn't end worse. "I know being a cop is hard today, but when you have, you know, a 16-year-old girl, myself, just going about your everyday business, and it turns to this, it's unfathomable."
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office wrote:
"The sheriff is aware of the incident from January but has been unable to review the documents again regarding your request. We understand if you need to proceed without him."
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