The local resident who captured the video said that he first saw a group of officers grab the 8-year-old boy from his bike, while the bag of chips spilled everywhere. The young child appeared to be deeply traumatized by the entire incident, he said. The unidentified juvenile boy was seen crying and screaming as he had his hands placed behind his back and was pushed towards the police car. The boy’s father acknowledges that what his son did was wrong, while nevertheless taking exception with the way the cops handled the incident.
This incident occurred on Sunday and was caught on camera by Kenneth Jackson, who then shared the video on his social media account.
The man from New York reportedly told the local news outlet that could not believe what he was witnessing and screamed at officers to let the little boy go.
“What ya’ll doing?” the man with the camera asked the responding officers.
One of the responding officers replied: “Guess! Take a guess what i’m doing!”
The man with the camera responded: “He looks like a baby to me. I don’t know what you’re doing. So what’s going on then?”
The other officer responded: “He’s stealing stuff. If he breaks into your house…”
The person filming responded: “Nah man! What he stole a bag of chips so you gotta treat him like a criminal?”
The officers then told the man to “keep walking” and “you don’t know even know what you’re talking about.”
The man with the camera then asked the 8-year-old boy what he had done. After the boy told him that he stole a bag of chips, the man even offered to pay for the item if it meant officers would let him go, the Daily Mail reports.
The video ends with the 8-year-old crying hysterically as he sits in the back of a police car.
This incident is now under investigation by the local police department who released a statement on the matter:
“We are aware of a video being shared on social media involving several of our Officers and juveniles accused of stealing from a store on the City’s northside. The incident, including the Officers’ actions and body-worn cameras, are being reviewed.
There is some misinformation involving this case. The juvenile suspected of larceny was not placed in handcuffs. He was placed in the rear of a patrol unit where he was directly brought home. Officers met with the child’s father and no charges were filed.”
Anthony Weah, the boy’s father, told the Post-Standard that officer went to his home after the incident and told him his three boys were accused of stealing the chips. According to the boy’s father, the responding officers were friendly and didn’t press charges. The dad also said he was shocked when he saw the video on social media later and he wants to file a complaint against the police.
Weah acknowledges that what his son did was wrong, while nevertheless taking exception with the way the cops handled the incident.
The man who shared the video on his social media account, Kenneth Jackson, reportedly said:
He got snatched off that bike. The bike hit the ground and chips went everywhere. It was just beyond me that they were actually treating this baby like this. There’s other ways to rectify this besides scare tactics. Now that’s just another youth that’s scarred by the system.”
This incident remains under investigation. This is a developing story and it will be updated as new information become available.
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