Cops handcuff and interrogate boy, 7, for hours over missing $5: family

[MrScorpio]

This kid was no killer — but some callous Bronx cops sure treated him like one.

Instead of earning himself a simple trip to the principal’s office, a terrified 7-year-old boy was hauled out of class, handcuffed like a hardened criminal and “interrogated” by police for a grueling 10 hours — all over a playground dispute involving $5, his family is charging.

“My son was crying, ‘Mommy, it wasn’t me! Mommy, it wasn’t me!’ I never imagined the cops could do that to a child. We’re traumatized,” Wilson Reyes’ distraught mom, Frances Mendez told The Post last night.

“Imagine how I felt seeing my son in handcuffs!’’ she said. “It was horrible. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

The bizarre overreaction by cops came after the child had been accused of swiping $5 from another student after school.

The money, which was supposed to be used for a school trip that never happened, had fallen on the ground in front of Wilson and two other boys, and one of them scooped it up.

Wilson was falsely accused of taking it, and he scuffled with one of the kids.

Officers showed up at PS X114 on Dec. 4 at about 10:20 a.m., and handcuffed and held Wilson in a room there for four hours. They then hauled him off to the 44th Precinct station house for another six hours of interrogation and verbal abuse, according to a $250 million claim against the city and the NYPD.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/cops_are_cuff_guys_with_kid_eaRQ39892kXQndMJkDgY9J

[surrealAmerican]

1. Why were the police even involved in the first place?

Are schools incapable of dealing with disputes involving their students?

[Glassunion]

13. Zero Tolerance at work.

[AverageMe]

17. I wish they would have done this to my child

I do not believe in corporal punishment. I take away things he wants and send him to his room, but he still does not listen, or attend school if he feels he has something better to do. He is now 15 and I am very worried about him. He hits his *girlfriend* and always gets in fights that are *never his fault*. What can I do. I have sent him to psychiatrist but he will not talk to them. He knows I will never hit him, so he has no respect for me or anyone. A little police terror might get his attention.

[Glassunion]

20. This has nothing to do with Zero Tolerance.

Zero Tolerance removes all thought and compassion from the process.

The opposite of zero tolerance is to look at each situation for what it is. For your child one solution may be effective, yet for another child in a completely different situation, that same solution may have the opposite effect.

[missingthebigdog]

22. You either left out the sarcasm symbol

Or you have some serious issues. How exactly would allowing your child to be abused by someone else result in a solution to the problems he is having???
Your kid needs help. Get him to someone that will help him. Keep trying therapists until he does talk to one. Consider taking him to a behavioral health facility.
Don't just throw up your hands and abdicate your responsibility.

[Fearless]

28. +1

[AverageMe]

36. No sarcasm

I have been dealing with this for five years. He knows that I love him, and he is not a bad kid. He just loses his temper rapidly when he feels he is disrespected. Why he hits his girlfriend, I do not know, he certainly did not learn that from me. He is a good looking, even handsome, boy and she gets jealous when he talks with other girls. He says she has to know her place. I tell them both, they are too young to be more then friends, but it goes in one ear and out the other and never stops in the brain. I think I have spoken to every therapist in town. He is smart and he knows it, gets straight A's in school, although he does not attend half the time, and dismisses therapy as just being mumbo-jumbo. If you take every bad thing you heard about Mitt bossing people around when he was young, that is my son. The world has to follow his rules, he does not have to follow the world's rules. This is why I wish the police would put a little respect and terror in him. I do not know what I can do!!!

[missingthebigdog]

39. I'm still not sure you're serious

You are saying that your child has had this problem since he was ten, and that in the last five years you have not managed to identify the source of it or treat it.

You do understand that you describe your kid the way the neighbors usually describe the kid who snaps and does something awful?

YOU have to find a way to address your child's issues. "I do not know what I can do" is not good enough. He is battering his girlfriend! Call a domestic violence hotline and ask them to put you in touch with someone. Call the juvenile court and ask them what to do. Figure it out. For his sake, and for the sake of the people he may victimize in the future.

[AverageMe]

42. The problem is that the girl denies he hit her

it is only her black eye and others who say it happened. I grounded him for one month, but that did not help since they still see each other.

[Deep13]

29. You named the one thing for which I have zero tolerance. nt

[GETTINGTIRED]

2. I hope they win

their lawsuit.....

[Fumesucker]

3. Only a few bad apples n/t

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Reyes. Never saw that one coming.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Don't the cops listen to the news?

Year after year after year, such stupidty by cops across the country has resulted in millions of dollars of lawsuits.
Surely the cops would catch on by now.

[Angry Dragon]

23. The money does not come out of their pockets ........... taxpayers pay

[Cali_Democrat]

6. our streets are now safer

[guardian]

7. Doesn't the law require

minors to be represented by their guardian or legal counsel prior to interrogation? Something about a minor cannot give informed consent to agree to an interrogation, understand Miranda rights, etc.?

[Sekhmets Daughter]

16. Probably the basis of the suit...

[RiverNoord]

31. Nope

Unless a particular state constitution has been interpreted that way in the state of the detention, or state statutes require it (I don't believe any do) a minor of any age may be interrogated after (theoretically, of course...) waiving Miranda rights. They must be informed of their Miranda (or equivalent) rights, then asked if they understand. If they say 'yes,' it's usually full speed ahead.

I represented a 11 year old who had no clue about Miranda rights other than what he'd seen on 'Cops' (this was in Minnesota). When the interrogating officer asked him if he understood, he replied 'yeah - it's like 'Cops,' right?' That was enough, and the officer really messed with his head, eliciting what turned out to be a false confession. Before it was discovered to be obviously false based on the evidence (it was sure obvious to me just watching the video), the confession was ruled admissible.

Oh - and the kid's mother was in the next room, not even having been notified that the kid was in interrogation...

[guardian]

37. I am really surprised

I seems to me if one is a minor, or mentally incapacitated (e.g., drunk, drugs), mental deficiency/incompetent, that they would lack the capacity to consent. I guess contract law doesn't translate to criminal law.

I remember a long time ago someone gave me the advice that my only response to police questioning should be "I have nothing to say" and then shut up entirely.

[RiverNoord]

40. Better than that is to say...

I am exercising my 5th Amendment right to silence and I would like to speak with a lawyer.

That covers the bases and makes it more or less illegal to be asked about anything except your name and address.

Yeah, it is funny that minors can actually void their contracts in most states when they turn 18, because they are considered to be of limited capacity, but yet are treated as adults capable of complex reasoning regarding the consequences of waiving their rights to attorneys and silence when interrogated by police...

In Minnesota, there is case law that explicitly states that minors are to be carefully explained their rights, and if their capacity is deemed insufficient to provide informed consent to a Miranda waiver, they must not be interrogated alone.

Police are really good at getting around trifling things like case law....

[Nye Bevan]

8. Surely the cops exposed themselves to unnecessary risk by leaving his right hand uncuffed.

You can't be too careful with desperate, dangerous criminals.

[newfie11]

9. What is next water boarding

This country has gone CRAZY!

[Demo_Chris]

10. Those officers deserve to be fired immediately

Everyone involved, every officer, every supervisor, the school officials who allowed this nonsense, all need to be fired immediately.

This nonsense really makes me angry. If we don't stand up for our CHILDREN who will be stand up for?

[CBGLuthier]

11. My psychic powers are working, somehow I just knew it would be

a black child.


Racist pigs at it again.

[RoccoRyg]

21. The mother's name

is Mendez, but same difference to these law-enforcement officials.

[Control-Z]

12. That poor little baby.

I hope they win the lawsuit in a big way.

[rhett o rick]

14. They "interrogated" him for 10 hours??? Doesnt he have any rights?

What could they have asked him? "Where is the money?" Ten thousand times?

[davidn3600]

15. Some cops take their jobs way too seriously

[Matariki]

18. Some cops should seriously have their jobs taken away.

OP case in point

[Logical]

25. So true, but they very seldom get punished and fired even less. n-t

[Sadiedog]

19. Disgusting and in my opinion it is child abuse!

I hope they win their lawsuit regardless if it was 10 hours or as the Department said, from 3pm-7:45pm. That is still 4 hours too many! They should be apologizing profusely to that child and his family!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. Isn't it funny how a Right Wing Rag like the NY Post goes all "Police State" under Dems?

Remember,...these are the guys who did this toon...

[Angry Dragon]

26. One wonders how they treat their own children

[Ian Iam]

27. One must always have one's priorities straight

(Do I even need to add the dripping icon?)

[SummerSnow]

30. These cops obviously dont have enough to do..

There is practically a shooting ,a robbery or a physical assualt everyday in the Bronx.Go find the real criminals!!

[timdog44]

32. child in jail

The cops could have gone down to wallstreet and arrested hundreds of times the number and been in the right for their thievery. But a child? $5. Let me know where to send the $5 and it is theirs. Let me know where the bankers and traders are and I will throw away the keys.

[gollygee]

33. And this kid will grow up with what attitude about the police?

Poor kid. Stupid police. What was the school thinking?

[Octafish]

34. Kid should of told them he's a Banker.

The cops'd chip in to give him another fiver.

[Squinch]

35. IF this were true, it would be awful. HOWEVER, it is being reported in the NY Post,

a Rupert Murdoch rag that lies about everything.

I see that other papers took up the Post's story, but I still want to hear the other side of this.

[duffyduff]

38. Plus it is a civil suit, which should be taken with a big grain of salt.

You won't hear the other side because they don't comment on those matters publicly.

Newspapers shouldn't even report these lawsuits. They are insurance claims.

[DogPawsBiscuitsNGrav]

41. No surprise. It's much more fun to

terrorize children and the elderly. The meth heads make em work for their living.

[Trillo]

43. Wilson now appears on the school-to-prison pipeline.

It is unfortunately he was arrested at school, making that connection in his mind indelibly clear. When his future teachers or schools try to tell him cops are his friends, as they're legally mandated to, he'll know from personal experience they're lying. This cognitive dissonance may bleed over into other subjects.

May his mothers lawsuit be enough to shift him back off that psychological path, if indeed, that is possible.