FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas – A college football player says not only was he embarrassed and humiliated, but his car was damaged while being pulled over and forced to the ground by officials with the US Marshals Office.
As it turns out, he wasn’t even the suspect they were looking for.
Now he says they’re apologizing and hoping to make things right, but that’s not good enough.
“I was just driving back to school and somebody just stopped in front of me and I just tried to swerve around them like any natural person would do that, and while I was trying to switch lanes another unmarked car just hit me from the side,” said 19-year-old Braylen Kizzee about the beginning of his interaction with the US Marshals office.
“They hit me twice and ran me off the road,” he added.
The college football player says the traumatic experience unfolded around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning just blocks away from his home near the the Fort Bend Pkwy Toll Road.
“They rolled down their windows and told me to put my hands up or they were going to blow my head off,” he said.
He says they made him crawl over to the passenger side, then out of the car on his hands and knees about 30 feet away. They had their guns drawn out and none of them had identified themselves.
He says officials finally pulled his beanie hat off, then realized he wasn’t the man they wanted in connection with a string of ATM robberies out of Kentucky.
“We look nothing alike, I mean I seen the picture of him. He has tattoos all over his neck. He’s 6′1, I’m about 5,9 I don’t have any tattoos as you can see, so I don’t know how they could’ve gotten us mixed up,” he said.
Braylen’s father, Byron Kizzee, who works in local law enforcement says he is especially confused because they had been staking Braylen out.
“If you was watching him with binoculars like you say, then it’s obvious you seen it’s not your suspect,” Byron said.
Braylen says he was left with scrapes and bruises on his knees.
“The only thing that the US Marshals, the person that they were looking for and my son have in common, is that they were Black,” said Braylen’s mother who asked not to be identified.
After the ordeal with six or so investigators, Braylen’s mother says they apologized and some followed him home to explain what happened. They also offered to pay for the damage to his vehicle.
“No amount of sorrys, apologies, could ever fix this, ever fix this, so fixing the car, repairing the car is the least of my worries. It’s about the life-long trauma,” she said.
Trauma she says they’re all now trying to heal from.
“Law enforcement did not do their job, we all need therapy because of this. Any wrong move, this could’ve ended in such a bad way. But I thank God that we teach him to do the right thing,” she added.
Braylen says he can’t sleep at night and is fearing the three-hour drive back to school Tuesday.
The US Marshals Office says they are not commenting on the situation at this time, but say they are still actively looking for the right fugitive in this area.
Meanwhile Braylen and his family want the officers involved in what happened to him, held accountable.
