Michigan police detained a Black child who was in the ‘wrong place, wrong time,’ department says

LANSING, Mich. — A white police officer handcuffed a Black baby exterior his Michigan house in an “unlucky case of ‘flawed place, flawed time,’” the Lansing Police Division stated Friday.

The division posted the reason on Facebook after cellphone video circulated on social media exhibiting the officer main the boy — whose palms are cuffed behind his again — by the car parking zone of an residence advanced on Thursday. The officer had been trying to find a suspect in a string of automotive thefts when he noticed the kid.

The boy was recognized as 12-year-old Tashawn Bernard throughout a Friday information convention held by his household and their attorneys. Tashawn was taking trash out to the Dumpster when he was approached by an officer that had his “gun unholstered and was holding it in entrance of him,” based on a lawyer representing the household.

About three minutes into the video of the incident, an officer eliminated {the handcuffs} and spoke with Tashawn for about 30 seconds. Tashawn was then allowed to affix his father on the sidewalk.

Michael Bernard, Tashawn’s father, stated he might sense one thing was flawed when his son was taking longer than standard to convey out the trash. When he went exterior, he stated, his son “had cuffs on and police had been standing round him.”

The Bernard household’s attorneys, Ayanna and Rico Neal, stated Tashawn is “traumatized” a lot that he “doesn’t not need to go exterior anymore.”

Officers needed to “present some background info on this unlucky misunderstanding,” police stated Friday.

A witness had described the suspect’s outfit earlier than an individual who matched the outline ran from an officer into an residence advanced, police stated. One other officer noticed the kid in “a really related outfit,” stopped him and launched him when the officer realized he was not the suspect, police stated.

Attorneys for the Bernard household say they haven’t acquired any extra particulars from police aside from what was shared on social media. The household is “exploring all authorized choices,” together with “the potential for submitting a lawsuit,” attorneys stated.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, police have launched an inner investigation after one other video posted to social media seems to point out one in all their officers on July 20 punching a Black man the officer mistakenly thought was concerned in a hit-and-run crash.

Police stated witnesses advised them two males and a girl carrying a baby fled towards an Applebee’s restaurant. A restaurant worker directed officers towards a person holding a child. Police then found the folks chargeable for the crash hiding within the restaurant’s rest room.