Football players and their coach are recounting what happened after an incident last week at a Bank of America in Tarpon Springs.

A group of young Black high school football players and their coach were accused of breaking into an ATM after football practice. It was later confirmed no crime was committed, but the group says they were treated like criminals and think that happened because of their race.

The coach says last Thursday one of the boys got out of their American Collegiate Academy van to use the ATM. He was wearing a mask because of COVID-19.

While waiting in line at the ATM, he thought the man in front of him was taking too long, so he went around the building to the other ATM. 

Tarpon Springs police responded with guns drawn after receiving 911 calls from someone at the bank.

“They all had guns pointed at us and all,” said Keith Robinson, 15. “We were just walking backwards and we had cars passing through. You know with what you see on the news and stuff, you start thinking about stuff. Like, what if somebody makes the wrong move, the wrong call and get shot. Just anything.”

Tarpon Springs police officials told Spectrum Bay News 9’s Saundra Weathers that the people who called 911 were just doing what they thought was right - calling on what they thought looked suspicious. But the players and their coach say it’s hard to believe race didn’t play a factor with the people reporting the crime.

Police thought the same thing also. In a video, one officer said, “I think this was an over react of color.” Another said. “Yeah, I do too.”

Body cam video released this Friday morning showed the coach of the team being ordered out of a van at gunpoint. 

After the coach was handcuffed, each player - all in high school and the youngest 15 years old – were ordered out of the van at gunpoint and put in cuffs.

What you can’t see in that video are the faces of those boys. There were tears. The boys seemed to be in better spirits when Weathers talked to them for this story but their coach was still very emotional, thinking about the long term effects for the kids and what could’ve happened.

We’ll have updates to this story as more information becomes available.