Police detained an innocent 11-year-old girl on her walk home from school after mistaking her for a car thief.
The terrified child was on her way home from Brighton Academy Middle School in Syracuse with friends when two Onondaga County Sheriff’s deputies stopped and handcuffed her, accusing her of being involved in a car theft. Though she and her friends insisted they had the wrong girl, the police brushed them off.
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At one point, the student’s cousin began recording the interaction, which involved discourse between the police and the victim.
“You’re gonna lie and tell me that’s not you?” one of the police asked. “It is what it is. If you’re honest, it will make it easy.”
She was being honest—they just weren’t believing her.
Police Handcuff an 11-Year-Old Girl After Mistaking Her for a Car Thief
Eventually, more police arrived, escalating the situation so much that the child started crying hysterically. It took multiple deputies to finally realize they had the wrong girl. Once they let her go, they apologized and said it was an easy mixup.
“I’m sorry about it, but you matched the description pretty clearly,” they told the student in the video.
“You guys are, like, identical,” another said, comparing the child to the actual car thief.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office further defended the action by stating it was “lawful and reasonable, given the juvenile’s proximity and clothing description.”
The girl’s mother—who asked to remain anonymous—said her daughter doesn’t even want to walk to and from school anymore because she was so affected by the situation.
“That was the only freedom she had, and it’s now gone,” the mother told WSAZ.
“I can’t make sense of it. I couldn’t even finish watching the video,” she continued. “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.”
Additionally, Sheriff Tobias Shelley met with the girl’s mother and discussed her “concerns about why the police didn’t inform her that her daughter was detained as part of a criminal investigation.”
The sheriff’s office also released the following statement:
“Why would we handcuff this child? Detainees are usually handcuffed initially. 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.”
However, Sheriff Shelley “agrees that moving forward, it will be OCSO policy to notify a parent or guardian of any juvenile who is detained for criminal investigative purposes, no matter how brief the encounter is,” per the statement.
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