The viral video of a police officer rudely driving an 8-year-old black child into his vehicle for a stolen packet of potato chips in upstate New York has sparked a flood of condemnations on social media and triggered a lawsuit internal to the police.
“As a mother, it was a heartbreaking video to watch,” New York State Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul condemned on Wednesday from the city of Syracuse, where the incident took place and where she is. was for a meeting on the Covid.
The video, seen more than 5 million times on one of the Twitter accounts that relayed it on Monday, shows a white police officer holding the crying child by the arms, in the presence of at least two other officers. The policeman is also holding a pack of blue potato chips. According to media reports, the child is eight years old and the incident happened over the weekend.
“What are you doing?” protests the man taking the video. “Guess!” replies the policeman, while one of his colleagues claims that the child is “stealing”.
“He steals a packet of potato chips and you treat him like a criminal (…) if he stole potato chips, I’ll reimburse you,” says the witness again.
In an official statement, the Syracuse police assured Tuesday that “the minor suspected of theft was not handcuffed”, but “placed in the back of a patrol unit and taken directly home”. “Officers have met with the father of the child and no charges have been brought,” added the police, who assured that the incident was “under review”.
The video sparked a flood of condemnations on social media and revived recurring accusations of racism against US police.
“Rather than talk to him or handle the incident differently, the police chose to make matters worse and arrest a clearly terrified young boy,” lawyer Ben Crump, who specializes in the defense of families, denounced on Twitter. victims of police violence.
For the governor of New York, this video is less surprising for African Americans, because “they have been used to receiving different treatment from the police and others, throughout their lives”. “That’s why we need to do more,” she added.