On the evening of April 10, 2025, former Arizona Cardinals linebacker Wesley Leasy was picking up his daughter, Jade, from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. What was meant to be a simple father-daughter reunion, though, quickly turned into a distressing situation when police detained both him and Jade outside the airport. While Leasy had already filed a notice of claim earlier, CBS’s Anna Schecter now reports that the Cardinals’ figure has filed a lawsuit.

“A brand new lawsuit was just filed by former NFL star Wesley Leasy and his daughter Jade,” Schecter reported. “The police made a huge mistake and detained them at gunpoint, handcuffed Leasy…He’s filing this lawsuit because he says he wants accountability, and he’s suing for damages. ‘This was terrifying and humiliating,’ he tells me.”

This latest development comes roughly a year after the Mesa and Phoenix Police Departments detained Leasy and Jade. In a video that was released, officers can be seen ordering both of them to lie on the ground. They both did the same while repeatedly asking, “What are you guys doing?”

Leasy was then handcuffed, even as he informed officers about his heart condition. Jade, meanwhile, lay nearby, crying, visibly shaken and unsure of what was happening.

That moment had already led to legal action. Back in October 2025, Leasy and Jade filed a notice of claim, claiming the Cardinals’ figure submitted two notices of $1 million each against the cities of Mesa and Phoenix, their respective police departments, the Phoenix Aviation Department, and the airport itself.

Per those filings, Leasy sought $2 million in damages for the pain and embarrassment both he and his daughter experienced. Beyond that, the incident left a lasting psychological impact, with Leasy later saying he believed his life was at risk.

“I’m in a very precarious situation,” Leasy said, addressing the distressing situation. “I know my life is in danger, but I know that my daughter, on the other side of me, is becoming unstable. She doesn’t know what’s going on. My daughter’s hysterically crying.

“There’s at least 10 guys with their guns pulled out, and there are lasers now pointing at you, machine guns, heavy, not a handgun. You’re thinking the very worst that somebody’s going to shoot you at this point. You don’t know why, or they think you’re going for a weapon, and you kid and yourself is going to be killed right here on the spot.”

At this point, the impact of what happened on April 10 is clear, both for Leasy and Jade. Subsequent reports have confirmed that the Mesa and Phoenix police departments mistakenly detained them, adding another layer to an already troubling situation.

The police mistook Wesley Leasy’s car for another suspect’s vehicle

For most of the time, police rely on technology like surveillance cameras while tracking a suspect. More often than not, that technology points them in the right direction. But there are moments when what shows up on a screen overrides basic human judgment. That’s essentially what unfolded on Thursday, April 10, 2025.

Officers were flying a chopper over nearby highways, tracking a vehicle linked to an alleged shooter driving a white Mercedes. At some point, they lost sight of that car. And while circling to relocate it, they picked up another white Mercedes, this one driven by Wesley Leasy.

“Well, there was a homicide over in Mesa,” Leasy said. “The car matches your car and finally tells me this whole thing about, ‘Oh, we thought it was you. We lost the other can in the airport. Your car happened to match the car that we were chasing, and here we are.'”

That’s where the situation becomes harder to reconcile. The suspect had been described as a young Caucasian male with tattoos on his neck and face. Despite that, and despite clearly seeing that Leasy was with his daughter, officers never paused to reassess whether they had the right person.

That disconnect is central to why the incident has drawn so much attention. It also explains why the former Cardinals linebacker is pursuing legal action against both cities and their respective departments. After all, the pain and embarrassment he and his daughter endured are hard to ignore.