A video of a Black boy being put under arrest by police in Lansing, Michigan is going viral online.
In the day-old TikTok clip that has now amassed over 3.8 million views, the boy can be seen in cuffs as a white cop escorts him to a police vehicle.
“A kid bringing out his trash to be dumped and he is getting arrested,” the voice of the person apparently recording the interaction says.
Moments later, the boy’s father appears and begins pleading with the police to convince him that his son has done nothing wrong.
“I’m his dad, what’s the problem?” His voice can be heard while he remains off-screen.
“His dad is coming out to see why they have put his son in handcuffs,” the person behind the camera explains.
The officer then walks the boy over to his father and another white female officer arrives on the scene.
@careyann327 Kid taking out trash being harassed by police. Father defending his son. Wrong person.
♬ original sound – Talkingtom24🐺
The father paces back and forth, distraught, and continues to plead with the police, but the boy is taken away and walked over to a parked police vehicle by the female officer.
“Why you put him in handcuffs?” the distressed father asks.
The officers then explained that they received a call and the boy matched the description of someone accused of a crime.
“You messing with my kid psychologically man,” the father says to the officer. “This is a perfect kid. Why you put him in handcuffs? Why a Black kid have to go through trauma like this all the time?”
He also called the police officers explanation that his son “fit the description” of an alleged criminal “an excuse.”
“It doesn’t matter, once you’re Black, you match any description,” the dad says.
“He fit the description, that’s some bullsh*t,” the videographer adds.
Several other officers then arrive on the scene, as the boy remains detained near a cop car. At least five officers can be seen in the video and they stand around talking for some time.
Eventually, the boy is released.
“They done arrested him, brought the canine down here,” the person recording says. “Now they [not] gonna arrest the young boy but done traumatized him.”
“We are aware of a video circulating social media,” wrote Lansing Police on Facebook. “We want to provide some background information on this unfortunate misunderstanding.”
The post went on to explain that they were searching for suspects accused of stealing cars in the vicinity. Apparently, police confronted a suspect in a nearby neighborhood who fled. Another officer arrested the boy in the clip because he was allegedly wearing a similar outfit. The police department also released a side-by-side video of the suspect and the boy who was arrested.
In the TikTok video’s comments section, many expressed hurt, frustration, and disappointment over the police’s treatment of the Black boy.
“It’s exhausting and so hurtful to our children,”user Leslibroadway commented.
“I watched this in silence,” JadaJenai wrote. “All I know is that, that boy needs a hug.”
“They should be fired!” Oracle of Lilith said. “I really hope he is okay. “
The Daily Dot reached out to the Lansing Police for more information.
