DaMichael Jenkins drove home one evening in late November and had a terrifying experience following a brief encounter with an unfamiliar woman.
When the woman with a stroller in his driveway first showed up, he assumed she was coming to visit his wife or have a playdate. He rolled down his car’s window to check if she needed assistance finding the door, but she didn’t answer.
She began to move toward the front entrance, he told People. At that moment, he started to park his car in the driveway. “Do you live here?” the woman asked Jenkins as she passed in front of his porch, per footage from Jenkins’ security camera.
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Jenkins recounted, “I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ And she said, ‘I don’t believe that.'” he continued. “That confused me… I just felt confused. Then she said again, ‘I don’t believe that.'”
As Jenkins describes and his security footage demonstrates, the woman then started to leave the porch, leaving her stroller behind and holding one child in her arms while holding the other next to her. She then started running down the street and screaming, “Help!”
“At that point, I was scared and I was fearful,” Jenkins recalled. “I realized she was running from me.”
Disoriented, Jenkins pulled into his garage, located his wife Brittany inside their house, and tried to explain what had happened.
She said, “I was in my office working on the other side of the house, so I didn’t hear anything. He came in and said, ‘There’s a White woman crying and screaming and running down the street.'”
She continued: “I was confused and my heart dropped because we have a 17-year-old son who was at work. I knew he would be coming home soon and I knew it meant the police were going to come around the same time. I said, ‘What is she screaming for?’ and DaMichael said, ‘I don’t know.'”
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She was terrified as the consequences of the incident became clear to her. But she went outside, and a short while later the woman came back, this time with her husband.
Brittany asked the couple if someone came there. The husband informed her that she was his wife and that someone was after her.
The woman, who has since come forward and revealed her identity as Michelle Bishop, then alleged that she was pursued by a man in a gray truck, saying, “So I come up and I’m going to pretend that I’m coming home. And so I … start walking to your back gate and he stops here and he goes, ‘Are you looking for someone?’ “
As per the security footage, Jenkins then came out of the house after Brittany clarified that he was her husband and that he resided there.
“Scared the crap out of me,” Bishop said, adding, “You have to understand my point of view. Being by myself with two kids, I just saw a car coming and I was like, oh, it scared me. And so I just pulled up here and I kept thinking, this could be his house. But you didn’t say, ‘This is my home.'”
Jenkins defended himself, saying, “I did. You asked me did I live here and I said, ‘Yeah.’ “
Bishop had already phoned the police at that time, Brittany told People, adding that Bishop’s behavior was so odd “it didn’t appear that she understood the depth of what had taken place.”
In a statement to People, Bishop confirmed that she did call 911, saying, “After leaving the Jenkins’ home, I ran to another neighbor’s home and called 911 that night. I explained to the operator that I thought I was being followed. I told the police I did not need to meet with an officer and they said they would do an area check. After realizing my mistake, I found the police doing an area check of the neighborhood and explained to them that it was a misunderstanding and that there was no issue.”
While her husband Jenkins remained inside, Brittany spoke to the police when they arrived at the Jenkins’ residence, her hands shaking. Considering that they are a Black family, she called the situation “scary” and “unsettling.”
She remarked, “My husband hid in his own home because he was afraid.”
After Brittany told the police that she thought the encounter was the result of profiling, they left soon after. Still, the couple hasn’t recovered from the terrifying occurrence.
Their 17-year-old son noticed their fear when he got home. He became anxious as they explained the problem to him.
“’Mom, what if she had a gun? What if I was taking out the trash at the time?’ It was very emotional. Our younger son was also scared,” Brittany said.
Fearing that it might happen again, Brittany claimed she called the local Homeowners’ Association (HOA) shortly after the incident and explained the details. She sent them any surveillance footage she had after they requested her to, but she said she hasn’t heard back from them since.
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The couple stated that they have peacefully resided in their Ohio home for three years now. Jenkins, a contractor, created the design himself, and their neighbors have “been welcoming from the beginning.”
Since then, the neighbors have kept up their support by sending encouraging letters.
Although Bishop shared her version of events on social media, even before security footage of the incident was released, the family has not received a direct response from her.
Bishop told her story and apologized to the family on a private neighborhood Facebook page. The Jenkins’ claimed they couldn’t believe they heard it online rather than in person.
Bishop shared another video to her public Facebook page, saying, “I wanted to come on again and reiterate my apology to DaMichael and Brittany Jenkins but also share with you guys the threats that my family is now receiving.”
She once again apologized, saying, “I understand why you felt that way, I get it. I truly do. It was the worst timing and the biggest misunderstanding and from the bottom of my heart … I do. I seek forgiveness and I am very sorry.”
Bishop’s representative told People that she has tried reaching out to the Jenkins family, but through mediators. The rep claimed that Bishop had not contacted the Jenkins family directly because she was warned by a police officer that she may face trespassing charges if she attempted to return to their house.
After trying everything else, Brittany and her husband opted to release the security footage of the incident, hoping the incident might serve as a teaching moment.
“We are very empathetic people. We all have implicit biases. I thought the next day [Bishop] would come over and say, ‘I messed up. How can I learn?’ “
After contacting the HOA, the Jenkins family and their neighbors wrote a letter outlining what transpired and posted it in the neighborhood mail room to alert others, however, it was removed within 24 hours.
Brittany stated that posting the security footage on social media was “the last resort”. It has since gone viral.
“The goal was for the community to be whole. We felt welcome and knew this was an isolated event …But the goal was to shed insight so we can learn from each other,” she said.
Added Jenkins: “We took all the possible steps we could to keep this a community thing. We’ve reached out to neighborhood people, to the HOA, shared it to the Facebook community. Now that this thing has become a national matter, we need to use this as an example to save lives.”
Although the incident occurred some months ago, Brittany believes it still hangs over their family. She said it has caused her to cry every night and she is scared of going to check the mail.
She remarked, “I think it’s important to get that message out: this is significant. We did not ask for this publicity. We did not ask for someone to show up on our porch. But we can use this experience… to make it positive for all people. We don’t want this to happen to others.”
Jenkins added that people have to have “emotional intelligence” when confronted with a similar situation.
“As men, we often struggle with reacting, thinking irrationally …. When you’re presented with a life-threatening battle test, it’s not always easy to remain calm and not react, but that can ultimately save your family’s life and your own life,” he said. “And that is what I did.”
