Chicago nurse blames mistaken identity on traffic stop, says police pointed gun at her kids

CHICAGO - Questions are swirling around a traffic stop in Chicago after the driver says an officer pulled a gun on she and her kids.

Jahaira Ruiz says she is traumatized and so are her children, and a witness could not believe what they saw so they recorded the incident with their cellphone.

Ruiz, who is a nurse on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic, says she was giving her kids a break out of the house Monday when she traveled to Humboldt Park for a food run around 5:40 p.m.

“I heard my 8-year-old in the back yelling ‘a gun, a gun! They are going to kill me.’ When I turned around to look, I had my hands sticking out the window, I see the officer with the gun trying to get my oldest out of the vehicle,” Ruiz said.

The oldest child, who is 17-years-old, was on the front passenger side. Ruiz’s other daughters, who were in the back seats, are 7 and 8-years-old.

Ruiz believes it was a case of mistaken identity, saying police claim they had a report of a person with a gun. She allowed them to search her car and no gun was found.

“The description was not my car. It was similar, but not the colors of my car and I’m telling the white shirt officer ‘that’s not the color of my vehicle,’” Ruiz said.

She says she drives a Lincoln Town Car that has a black top and is pearl white. She says Chicago police were looking for a cream car with a brown top -- very similar.

Chicago police released the following statement.

“The caller stated that 3 Hispanic females in brown rag top cream color Lincoln Town Car (plate provided) pointed a gun at the caller. A vehicle matching the description was stopped on the 1500 Block of North California. No arrests were made,” police said in a statement.

Now, the 36-year-old single mother has a message for CPD.

“Those officers should not get way with what they did. If so, disciplinary action. They need better training. Not all CPD are bad. Obviously, it was discrimination on a lot of levels,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz plans to file a formal complaint with COPA.