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Cops in Syracuse, New York, stand accused of traumatizing a youngster after a video of an intervention went viral on social media. The incident is now subject to an internal affairs investigation.
The footage, which has been viewed nearly five million times on Twitter so far, purports to show officers placing the visibly upset boy, who is in the 8-10 age range, in the back of a police car for allegedly stealing a bag of potato chips.
An outraged bystander who filmed the encounter on his cell phone challenged the officers involved and even offered to pay for the item in question.
“He looks like a baby to me…he stole a bag of chips so you gotta treat him like a cold-blooded f——g killer?,” the man said, among other things, as he argued with the lawmen on the scene, who basically told him to stay out of it.
“I see you snatching him up off the bike like he’s a f——g grown-ass man — and he said it wasn’t him,” the man also declared.
One cop on site tried to make an analogy about the situation: “He’s stealing stuff. If he breaks into your house and steals something…”
Watch (*warning for language):
Syracuse police really ? Over a bag of chips ? He’s just a kid. pic.twitter.com/DNOwcuUsvf
— HUNNDO 444 (@HunndoHefner) April 18, 2022
Police reform advocate Ben Walsh, the mayor of the city who successfully won the office running as an independent, told Syracuse.com that “The officer knew the child from prior interactions and explained to him that he was being taken home. The officers returned the child to his family and discussed the incident with his father before leaving without filing any charges.”
“The boy’s father…acknowledged what his son did was wrong. But he also takes issue with the way the officers handled the incident,” the news outlet added.
My statement on the video of the recent incident involving @SyracusePolice. pic.twitter.com/2JyqKvvnVC
— Ben Walsh (@BenWalsh44) April 19, 2022
Syracuse PD took to Facebook to similarly clarify the situation after the firestorm:
“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.”
To some, the encounter might perhaps be reminiscent of the documentary TV series “Scared Straight” from back in the day.
As you would imagine, the condemnation of the police action, or overreaction, is widespread on social media, although there were some dissenters from that narrative:
So many dumb and blind opinions, again filmed after police arrive. You do know who the police right? Why don’t we have a video clip of the man at the register lol like he made the damn call for a reason. Like is this a common action the store owner faces? a lot of unknown factors
— Robert_Deez (@RobertDoez) April 19, 2022
ik y’all gone kill me for saying and yes u can crucify me if i’m wrong…. but i honestly feel like it was one of those things to scare the kid, nothing harmful i jus feel like they (the ones filming) made a big deal before they got to finish…
— jon dough (@RashawnBlacks) April 20, 2022
The macs store near me had to go out of business because the middle school kids stole so much stuff every day at lunch, there was always like 35 of them inside at a time, kids know how to pretend to be dramatic when they’ve done it enough times
— moon cake candy flipping (@br0k3nhalos) April 19, 2022
Something tells me there is much more to this situation than what we see in this video.
— UIHawkGrad (@uihawkgrad) April 19, 2022
It’s just a bag of CRISPS today.
Perhaps it will be two bags of CRISPS tomorrow.
A tube of pringles the day after that.
Then in a years time, he’s selling cocaine and robbing trains.
Better that he learns NOW: crime does not pay!!!
— TheCyberSmith (@TheCyberSmith) April 19, 2022
Can we also keep in mind that the kid in question may or may not have also kept stealing from the same store until the employees were fed up? I agree there doesn’t need to be so many cops but the kid probably didn’t serve time and was probably sent home to talk with their parents
— TPN | Zyul (@Zyul64Gaming) April 19, 2022
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Robert Jonathan is a staff writer for BizPac Review. He is a longtime writer/editor for news aggregation websites and has also developed content in the legal and financial publishing sectors as well as for online education. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, “a law school the basketball teams can be proud of.”
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