Charges against a white couple were dropped from a 2020 incident in which one of them pulled a gun on a black woman and her teenage daughter outside a Michigan restaurant, authorities said.
A trial was set for Monday for Eric Wuestenberg, 44, and Jillian Wuestenberg, 34. Oakland County Judge Mary Ellen Brennan dismissed the charges after the alleged victim failed to appear for witness testimony.
Both were charged with assault. The July 2020 incident happened in the parking lot of a Chipotle restaurant in Orion Township, Fox Detroit reported.
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The heated exchange stemmed from Jillian Wuestenberg allegedly bumping into the then 15-year-old teenage girl as they entered the restaurant. Takelia Hill, who is Black, told the Detroit Free Press that her daughter asked Wuestenberg to apologize.
After that the conflict escalated and a firearm was drawn.
The raid on Eric Peter Wuestenberg and Jillian Deanne Wuestenberg was called off Monday following an incident in which a gun was pulled on a black woman and her teenage daughter. (Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)
“So this is America,” Hill wrote later on Facebook. “I’ve never had a gun pulled in my life… I’ve never felt so helpless in my life I’m so shaken.”
In one video of the exchange, an armed woman is seen pointing a gun at the mother, yelling “back i–k up!” Jillian Wuestenberg said she feared for her safety.
“They were blocking the entrance of the car, I had a railing behind me,” he said, according to the news report. “I was trapped, I couldn’t go anywhere. I was being yelled at, called racist and ignorant and I was trapped.”
Eric Wuestenberg said he got out of the car to help his wife inside. They backed up and tried to drive away, but the car’s automatic braking system stopped suddenly and at least one of the women was hitting the car,” he said.
Jillian Wuestenberg drew a gun on a black mother and her teenage daughter during a 2020 conflict. A Michigan judge on Monday dismissed the charges against Wuestenberg and her husband. (Fox Detroit)
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“That’s when I realized we’re not going home tonight, we’re not going to see another day, and the only thing I can do is protect myself and draw my firearm,” said Jillian Wuestenberg.
The couple lost their jobs over the incident and received numerous death threats after the video of the encounter went viral.