An 11-year-old girl was filmed being handcuffed on a street corner by authorities in New York state after being wrongly identified as a suspect in a car theft, drawing outrage from the child’s mother and a prominent civil rights group.
The girl was reportedly returning home from school Monday in Syracuse with other children when deputies with the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office singled her out as the suspect due to her clothing.
The girl, who is Black, was wearing a pink, puffy jacket and camouflage pants, similar to what was worn by the suspect, authorities said.
The girl was handcuffed for about seven minutes as deputies compared an image of the suspect with the detained child, authorities said. Upon realizing their mistake, they released her with an apology and said that she looked similar to the wanted person.
“I mean, I’m sorry, you could see how it could match that description,” one of the deputies told her, according to video of the incident shared by Syracuse.com.
The footage appeared to show the girl sobbing as she was released on a sidewalk and comforted by other children around her.
The sheriff’s office defended the deputies in a statement dated Tuesday. “Handcuffing from the start usually prevents a controlled situation from devolving into an uncontrolled situation,” it said.
“In reviewing the incident, the detainment of the juvenile was lawful and reasonable, given the juvenile’s proximity and clothing description,” the sheriff’s office said. It credited the “juvenile’s disposition, patience, and cooperation” for helping quickly clear her of wrongdoing.
The sheriff’s office said it met with the girl’s mother to discuss her concerns about having not been informed that her child was detained as part of a criminal investigation. The mother, speaking with local station WSTM, said she only learned about the incident through her daughter and video recorded by another child at the scene.
“I couldn’t even finish watching the video,” the girl’s mother, who asked not to be identified, told the outlet. “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.”
Going forward, the sheriff’s office said that a parent or guardian of any juvenile detained for criminal investigative purposes will be notified. Previously, office policy only required notification if there was an arrest.
The New York Civil Liberties Union joined in on condemning the deputies’ actions, calling their behavior disturbing and aggressive.
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“This mistreatment raises serious concerns about implicit racial bias, which too often leads law enforcement officers to perceive children of color as a threat,” Victoria Coit, a senior organizer with the organization, said in a statement Wednesday.
“It also raises questions about appropriate training and protocols in the Sheriff’s office. The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office must engage the community in dialogue and make further changes with community input,” Coit said.