An 11-year-old Black girl was handcuffed and detained by Onondaga County, New York, sheriff’s deputies who had the wrong person, and now the sheriff’s office is justifying it by noting that it’s common practice to handcuff detainees whether officers know if they’ve actually done anything wrong or not because that’s how cops protect themselves.
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(As for who protects innocent civilians from the cops — well, the statement didn’t include an answer for that.)
According to CNY Central, the altercation between the deputies and the Black girl who was reduced to tears over the encounter, was recorded by another child who identified herself as the 11-year-old’s cousin — meaning Black children learn what to do to protect themselves and each other in the presence of police officers before they’re even out of middle school.
It all started when deputies responded to a call about a stolen Kia Monday afternoon. According to the department’s account, deputies stopped a vehicle that matched the description of the stolen car. The car eventually stopped, but the four occupants inside, including the 14-year-old driver who is reportedly in custody, fled on foot. Eventually, the officers spotted a girl dressed similarly to one of the fleeing suspects, so they stopped her and immediately placed her in handcuffs.
From CNY Central:
When the video begins, the girl is already cuffed with her hands behind her back. One of the other girls says, “I’m actually so confused, I’m scared!” One of the responding deputies, a man, tells the group of children that they should, “keep going.” However, they stay behind to make sure their friend and relative is OK.
The deputies explained that the 11-year-old matched the description of an alleged car thief, indicating that the pink jacket and camouflage pants on the girl were the same that the alleged thief was wearing. The male deputy’s partner, a woman, makes a phone call and asks for a photograph of the suspect.
Once she has the photograph, the deputies double down.
“Girl, you’re gonna tell me that’s not you?” the female deputy said.
As it turned out, no, it wasn’t her.
It should be noted that while detaining a preteen, the cops instructed the girl’s friends to “keep going” as if it’s reasonable to expect a group of young children to leave their friend behind while she is in handcuffs and crying in distress. It’s almost as if Black children aren’t really seen as children at all, especially once a cop has them in their figurative or literal crosshairs.
Another deputy accused the 11-year-old’s friends of lying as they calmly tried to explain to the officers that they had the wrong person.
“It is what it is. If you’re honest, it will make it easy,” he said to the handcuffed girls, who was crying as more deputies arrived at the scene.
Once the cops finally realized they, indeed, had the wrong person, they offered an “apology” that came attached to a justification for needlessly traumatizing a child.
“I’m sorry about it, but you match the description pretty clearly,” one of the deputies said.
The department also offered more of a justification than an apology.
“Why would we handcuff this child? Detainees are usually handcuffed initially,” the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Detainees may become uncooperative, may decide to flee, or may decide to fight. In some cases, detainees may be armed or have contraband/ evidence they will try to destroy. Handcuffing from the start usually prevents a controlled situation from devolving into an uncontrolled situation; ultimately preventing altercations, force, and potential for injury. The police do not definitively know a person’s age and ascertaining that information is part of the detainment process. Handcuffing juveniles in this circumstance is lawful, within policy, and common practice in law enforcement.”
“The police do not definitively know a person’s age,” they say. Funny — Tamir Rice’s killers offered a similar copsplanation.
Regardless of their claim that they weren’t aware of the girl’s exact age, cops know when they’re dealing with a child. They traumatized this girl because of what they feared she (or anyone) might do, but, apparently, the harm done via the adultification of Black children doesn’t matter.
The office said Sheriff Toby Shelley met with the girl’s mother and suggested that they had a productive conversation and came to an understanding. We’ll just have to take that at face value, because their claim certainly doesn’t match the mother’s energy following the incident. In fact, it looks like the protective mama bear might be eyeing an lawsuit.
More from Central:
The young girl’s mother told the I-Team that she was not accepting any apologies. Speaking under the condition of anonymity, she said that her daughter is a typical child just “trying to figure out life.” She was waiting for her daughter to get home from Brighton Academy when she got a phone call regarding her detainment. At first, she couldn’t believe what her daughter was telling her. The situation was so ridiculous in her mind that she thought, that at first, her daughter might be trying to prank her. Then, she saw the footage recorded by her niece.
“I couldn’t even finish watching the video,” the mother said. “Even if it wasn’t my child, I wouldn’t be able to finish watching the video because that’s not how you handle children.”
Exactly.
