(CNN) A Black realtor was showing a house to a Black man and his 15-year-old son in a Michigan suburb last week when they looked outside and saw police officers surrounding the property with their guns drawn.
"I knew once they surrounded the home they were preparing for a standoff," the father, Roy Thorne, told CNN's Don Lemon Friday.
"And so my instincts told me we need to get out of here, we need to get to where they can see that we're not a threat.".
A neighbor had called authorities, saying a suspect arrested at the property a week prior had returned to the scene, according to the Wyoming, Michigan, Department of Public Safety.
But the caller was mistaken: The realtor, Eric Brown, was giving Thorne and his son Samuel a tour of the home in the community of Wyoming, just outside Grand Rapids, after scheduling the visit online the day before.
All three were eventually released without incident -- but not before Wyoming police ordered them out of the home with their hands up and handcuffed each of them, briefly placing Thorne and his 15-year-old son in the back seats of separate patrol vehicles, according to footage released by Wyoming police.
"I was worried," Thorne said, "but I was just more concerned about getting my son out of that situation and getting us all out of there.". »
