Update: Reports have now identified the individual handcuffed as 12-year-old boy named Tashawn Bernard.
A viral video being shared across social media displayed police arresting a Black boy while he was taking out the trash. In the video set in what appears to be Lansing, Michigan, there are two narrators giving commentary to the incident.
During the ordeal, a man who said he was the unidentified boy’s father argued with police. Law enforcement said the boy “fit the description” when talking to his father.
“You're messing with my kid psychologically,” the father says to the officer. “This is a perfect kid. Why did you put him in handcuffs? Why a Black kid have to go through trauma like this all the time?”
In a Facebook post, Lansing Police provided some background information on the confrontation.
“On Thursday afternoon, our officers were investigating a string of Kia thefts, including a specific one reported on the 3600 block of W. Jolly Road with multiple suspects. A witness described a suspect as wearing neon shorts and a white shirt. A responding officer saw a subject matching this description and attempted to make contact but the subject fled and ran west into the nearby apartment complex. A different officer was in the area and saw the young man pictured in the viral video wearing a very similar outfit and made contact with him.”
Link: Newsweek
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