DeBARY, Fla. – A local politician's family fell victim to a "swatting"call early Thursday morning.
"I woke up to shouts, lights. I was told to come out with my entire family with our hands up in the air," said Erika Benfield.
Benfield, who is running for DeBary City Council, said she had no idea what was happening and was not prepared to be surrounded by deputies, Tasers and guns.
"They approached us and said, 'We received a call from a source stating that there's a possible murder s-suicide in your home,'" she said.
"Swatting" is the act of deceiving an emergency service into dispatching an emergency response based on a false report of an ongoing critical incident.
The family showed News 6 exclusive surveillance video of what happened as they were forced out of their home.
"I looked to my left and saw my daughter in handcuffs. As I kept walking with my children, the police stopped my husband a few steps behind me and they proceeded to put handcuffs on him," she said.
Their dog was barking constantly, trying to protect the family.
"They shouted, 'Ma'am, sir, if you don't control your dog, he will be shot,'" said Benfield.
Video showed deputies going inside the home to look for anything suspicious, as the family waited outside. Once they got the all clear, the family was able to return home.
"I feel helpless. I feel violated," said Benfield.
Benfield wants to bring attention to the issue so no one else falls victim to what she said was a terrifying experience for her entire family.
"We need to bring more awareness to this because it's happening all over the nation and now to our quiet town of DeBary. If something does happen like this, to cooperate fully with the law so, no one gets hurt," she said.
Rep. Katherine Clark is pushing for a bill called the Interstate Swatting Hoax Act which makes swatting a state and federal criminal violation.