Police mistakenly handcuff 11-year-old black girl for attempted car theft
Written by Site Hub on March 14, 2020
An 11-year-old black girl has been left traumatized after DeKalb County police officers in Georgia knocked on her door after dark, put her in handcuffs, and led her to a police car where they detained her in the back of the car. Shortly prior to this incident, a neighbor reported that two teenage boys and a 16-year-old girl had attempted to steal her car.
Even after the 11-year-old’s mother showed officers the surveillance footage from her home’s security camera, which clearly showed her daughter had not left the house since 4:00 p.m. that day, the officers still handcuffed her, led her away from her home, and detained her in their squad car.
The mother said that the officers didn’t even ask her how old her daughter was, after the woman who reported the incident noted the suspect was around 16 years old. When the car theft was botched, the female suspect ran in the general direction of the home where the 11-year-old lived.
It was only after the 11-year-old was sitting in handcuffs in the back of the squad car that officers even asked how old she was. How many other black children must be traumatized unnecessarily at the hands of law enforcement?
