According to NBC Washington, the 10-year-old’s detention came about after the police received a complaint from a boy about being assaulted and robbed of his phone at gunpoint by three boys. The information provided led them to detain the boy as one of the suspects.
“He is a child.”
“He is not resisting.”
“That is not ok.”
Those were some of the words from some onlookers who witnessed a 10-year-old black boy being handcuffed then led to a waiting police vehicle by Washington, D.C. police officers on suspicion of being involved in an armed robbery.
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According to NBC Washington, the 10-year-old’s detention came about after the police received a complaint from a boy about being assaulted and robbed of his phone at gunpoint by three boys. The information provided led them to detain the boy as one of the suspects.
He was, however, eventually exonerated. DC Attorney General Karl Racine confirmed this in a news release on Friday after his office reviewed surveillance videos of the incident, NBC Washington further reports.
“We are now certain that there is no evidence that the 10-year-old boy played a role in the armed robbery. He is totally innocent,” Racine said.
“Typically, we do not publicly comment on any of our juvenile cases because District laws protect the confidentiality of all juveniles involved in the justice system,” he added. “But this is necessary because in the court of public opinion this innocent 10-year-old was deemed guilty and criminalized.”
Racine, however, stated that the officers did nothing wrong with the arrest.
“We owe it to the young victim of this crime to hold the people who hurt him accountable. We also owe it to the 10-year-old who was incorrectly identified as an armed robber to set the record straight,” he said.
“I am speaking to you today to publicly exonerate this young person and to stress the importance of the laws which protect the confidentiality of all of the young people involved in our justice system—both victims and offenders.”
The victim’s mother, Chaquitta Williams, in the aftermath of the incident told WUSA9 how the incident affected her son.
“It just destroyed him the whole night,” she said.
“It was hurting me. There were so many people out there, I didn’t know what to do. My mind was just blown from the situation,” she added. “I see my son on the ground with three police around him at just 10-years-old.”
Take a look at the incident below:
In another separate incident, the Times Union reports that New York police officer and 5-year veteran Luke Deer is facing assault and official misconduct charges after a body camera footage showed him assaulting a black male without provocation when he and his colleague officers responded to a noisemaking complaint in a home.
Prior to the assault which happened last month, the officers barged into the house after they were refused entry then manhandled and handcuffed a black male. Two other officers have been suspended.
“It was determined that not only had officer Deer violated departmental policy, but he had also committed criminal acts as well,” Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday, April 2, according to the Times Union. “I am convinced that the misconduct I observed by these few officers was an aberration. Nonetheless, I condemn that misconduct in the strongest terms, and I’m sending a strong message that such conduct will not be tolerated in the Albany Police Department.”
Take a look at the incident below:
