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Police officers in Syracuse, New York are under scrutiny after a bystander’s video showed them being rough with an 8-year-old Black boy.
The child is accused of stealing a bag of Doritos.
The video had been seen more than five million times since it was posted, with commenters outraged over the actions of the officers in the video.
The roughness of the officers made even the person taking the video very upset.
Syracuse police really ? Over a bag of chips ? He\u2019s just a kid.pic.twitter.com/DNOwcuUsvf— HUNNDO 444 (@HUNNDO 444) 1650294060
The clip begins with an officer tightly holding the arms of a young Black child, crying out in pain. The bystander taking the video, a man named Kenneth Jackson, keeps asking the police what they are doing.
The interaction between Jackson and the police was tense.
“What is y’all doin’?”
The police responded angrily:
“Guess. Take a guess what we’re doing.”
But Jackson continued to call the police out:
“He looks like a baby to me! So what’s going on then?”
Another officer steps up:
“He’s stealing stuff. If he breaks into your house to steal something-”
But Jackson wasn’t having that argument.
“Nah, man. What is that? A bag of chips, so you gotta treat him like a whole, cold blooded, f*cking killer?”
Those who watched the video agreed the police were rougher than they needed to be.
Syracuse Police Department can you please explain to me how that child is ever going to be able to trust a police officer again for the rest of his entire life?— ConsiderThis (@ConsiderThis) 1650396646
To all of you bigots who are justifying police aggressively arresting a 10 year old Black boy for allegedly stealing potato chips, but vociferously defended a 17 year old white supremacist teenager who shot and killed two people at a Black Lives Matter protest\u2026— Bishop Talbert Swan (@Bishop Talbert Swan) 1650460432
Syracuse (NY) police officers detained an 8-YEAR-OLD for allegedly stealing a bag of Doritos! Rather than talking to him or handling this incident in a different way, officers chose to escalate this incident and detain an obviously terrified young boy! How traumatizing is this?!pic.twitter.com/Nx8iD7gcdY— Ben Crump (@Ben Crump) 1650467447
Outrageous— AfricaYourBestLife.com (@AfricaYourBestLife.com) 1650470582
Don\u2019t Syracuse Police have a mass shooter still on the loose? This is what their doing? $265,000,000 budget & they\u2019re out here traumatizing little kids who do kid things. #DefundThePolice #AbolishThePolice #ACABhttps://twitter.com/HunndoHefner/status/1516069289362706437\u00a0\u2026— Old Woman Seeking Justice (@Old Woman Seeking Justice) 1650335407
This is what Democrats and Republicans are supporting when they increase police budgets. This is the Syracuse police arresting a child over a bag of chips.pic.twitter.com/FBlUPZJGGs— \ud83c\udd79\ud83c\udd7e\ud83c\udd74\ud83c\udd88\u0561rec\u03ba \u262d (@\ud83c\udd79\ud83c\udd7e\ud83c\udd74\ud83c\udd88\u0561rec\u03ba \u262d) 1650353335
The young boy was escorted to the back of a police vehicle. According to a statement by Syracuse police, he was never placed in handcuffs and was taken to his home where officers met with the boy’s father.
However, the viral nature of the video caused a response that likely wouldn’t have otherwise come about. The video is being reviewed for the conduct of the officers involved.
Jackson was later interviewed by local NBC 15 news.
He said he feels the police did not handle the situation properly.
“There’s a way that the police need to interact with kids, and what they did that day was completely unacceptable.”
Anthony Weah, the father of the boy, claimed the officers knocked the child off his bike and slapped him on his back. He would like to see accountability for the officers.
There were some who sided with the officers, including policing expert Dr. Keith Taylor and professor of forensic studies David Thomas.
They both agreed the police did the right thing in this situation and it’s difficult for officers to interact with a child accused of theft without them crying.
But there were some online takes that were shut down by other commenters.
Old enough to post edgelord shit, old enough to know you're dying alone.— Oktyabrskaya (@Oktyabrskaya) 1650495771
Lets take it a step farther and arrest toddlers for walking out of the store with candy, since you like throwing kids into police cars.— Powder (@Powder) 1650479015
Book a kid? Seriously? Tough crowd, sheesh!— Arthur Brown (@Arthur Brown) 1650490193
It isn\u2019t a much worse situation. That\u2019s the thing. If it was then the police should act accordingly but rn we see a little boy and three police officers using excessive force for a bag of 3 dollar chips.— idek (@idek) 1650426979
Sorry to hear that. Most of us weren't physically abused by our parents and we still turned out fine.— Obstrepero (@Obstrepero) 1650481372
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said in a statement he was concerned about the incident, but reiterated the child was not placed in handcuffs and taken home to his father.
However, he called for police to support kids and families and look at alternative response options.