NEW YORK _ She didn't shoot the sheriff, but Bob Marley's granddaughter said police treated her and her friends like they committed a capital offense after they were racially profiled at an Airbnb in California.
And she wants them held accountable.
Filmmaker Donisha Prendergast said she felt like her life was in danger when she and two friends were detained by police after a neighbor called the cops and accused the trio of robbing the home in Rialto where they were staying.
"What happened to us is an indignity." Prendergast said Thursday at a Harlem news conference.
Prendergast, the granddaughter of reggae legend Bob Marley, and her two friends, Kelly Fyffe Marshall and Komi-Oluwa Olafimihan, all of whom are black, said they were leaving the Airbnb rental April 30 when a white neighbor called 911.
A police helicopter hovered above the home as police sorted out the matter.
Prendergast, whose mother is the eldest daughter of the legendary reggae singer, isn't satisfied with what police have said and released about the incident so far, her lawyer Ben Crump told the New York Daily News.
"We're probably going to sue to get the 911 tapes," Crump said Thursday.
"They didn't do anything to properly discern the situation," he continued, referring to police. "They literally told these young black people that they had to prove their innocence, that they were guilty until proven innocent."
The owner of the Airbnb where the women stayed said the situation could have been avoided had her guests used some common courtesy.
"If the kids had simply smiled at (my neighbor) and waved back and acknowledged her and said, 'We're just Airbnb guests checking out,' none of this would have ever happened," she said. "But instead, they were rude, unkind, not polite."
Crump said the white woman who made the 911 call specifically reported that three black people appeared to be burglarizing her neighbor's house because they were loading suitcases into a car and did not smile or wave at her when she allegedly waved at them.
"We believe it was a racist 911 call," Crump said. "She apparently said if the black people would have just waved and smiled at her, this would not have been an issue. This is offensive on so many levels."
He also faulted the cops for accusing Prendergast and her friends of fabricating their online Airbnb confirmation and having someone pose as their host on the phone.
"They had the Airbnb app and they called the lady on the phone. And the police are saying, 'How do we know this is legitimate?' Really? They just made up an app in the one-minute time you stopped them? It's asinine," Crump said.
"There really is a huge problem with white people who call the police on black people for being black, and then police ask the black people to prove they're innocent and have right to exist in space," he said.
Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling said his department was unfairly accused of racial bias over the 22-minute encounter. He said the group of friends were never cuffed or seated on the curb.
"I am confident that our officers that were involved in this situation handled the call for service with dignity, respect and the utmost professionalism," Kling said.
