Rialto cops swarmed the group of four — three who are black — after a neighbor called police and reported a group of black people were taking luggage out of a house.
As the group was packing up their bags and locking up the house before they left, seven cop cars surrounded them.
Officers demanded the group put their hands in the air, and informed them a helicopter was tracking them.
**Kells Fyffe-Marshall**, a film director, described the incident and posted a video the detainment on her [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/directedbykells/videos/10160498802620121/).
“A neighbour across the street saw 3 black people packing luggage into their car and assumed we were stealing from the house,” Fyffe-Marshall wrote.
“She then called police.”
Fyffe-Marshall recalled the group initially joked around about it.
“At first we joked about the misunderstanding and took photos and videos along the way.”
But after the investigation escalated, the group no longer found the ordeal humorous.
> About 20 minutes into this misunderstanding it escalated almost instantly. Their Sergeant arrived… he explained they didn’t know what Airbnb was. He insisted that we were lying about it and said we had to prove it. We showed them the booking confirmations and phoned the landlord… because they didn’t know what she looked like on the other end to confirm it was her.. they detained us – because they were investigating a felony charge – for 45 minutes while they figured it out.”
Fyffe-Marshall said the group was traumatized by the event.
> “We have been dealing with different emotions and you want to laugh about this but it’s not funny. The trauma is real. I’ve been angry, fustrated and sad. I was later detained at the airport. This is insanity.”
So far, no reports have surface about whether or not anyone in the group intends to file a civil rights lawsuit for the 45-minute-long detainment.