Tiny wrists in cuffs: How police use force against children

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-arrests-george-floyd-chicago-only-on-ap-5df43637790f1750dcfbac559ec3bfdb

CHICAGO (AP) — Royal Smart remembers every detail: the feeling of the handcuffs on his wrists. The panic as he was led outside into the cold March darkness, arms raised, to face a wall of police officers pointing their guns.

He was 8 years old.

Neither he nor anyone else at his family’s home on Chicago’s South Side was arrested on that night two years ago, and police wielding a warrant to look for illegal weapons found none. But even now, in nightmares and in waking moments, he is tormented by visions of officers bursting through houses and tearing rooms apart, ordering people to lie down on the floor.

“I can’t go to sleep,” he said. “I keep thinking about the police coming.”

Children like Royal were not the focus after in 2020, prompting a raging debate on the disproportionate use of force by law enforcement, especially on adults of color. Kids are still an afterthought in reforms championed by lawmakers and pushed by police departments. But in case after case, an Associated Press investigation has found that children as young as 6 have been treated harshly — even brutally — by officers of the law.

They have been handcuffed, felled by stun guns, taken down and pinned to the ground by officers often far larger than they were. Departments nationwide have few or no guardrails to prevent such incidents.

*snip*

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. Absolutely horrifying. K&R.

Abolish it all.

[rickyhall]

2. Adults who beat-up on kids are despicable cowards. No excuse.

[ARPad95]

3. Children are not safe from these psycho LEOs.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. What do I keep saying about police?

They are the largest group of organized gangs in the country.

[Bayard]

5. Child abuse

[wendyb-NC]

6. What unspeakable cruelty by law enforcement

What is their reasoning, this is outrageous insanity. That poor sweet child, and the rest of the family, no doubt, scarred by L.E.'s abusive force toward him and his family. His home savaged by officers searching for weapons that they didn't have. This is sickening.