The 11-year-old along with two others were trying to physically hurt two girls
The 11-year-old along with two others were trying to physically hurt two girls
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The Evansville police department has released a body cam video of an officer detaining a juvenile biker for allegedly trying to hurt two girls.
The incident took place in the area of North Englewood Avenue and East Franklin Street in the city of Evansville, Indiana just before 3 pm on March 13. The police said that the boy had to be physically handled and handcuffed by an officer after refusing to stop and talk to him and yelling obscenities.
“Commentary made on his post suggest that there was misconduct by our officer. Witness statements, the officer’s own account, and the officer’s bodycam dispute that accusation,” said the police department.
Police said the juvenile, whose identity has not been revealed, was one of three young males who were reported for trying to start a fight with two girls in the area.
Upon arrival, officers talked to the girls and after identifying and tracking down the three boys, two of them fled, while the officer attempted to stop and talk to the third who was biking in front of his patrol car.
The young man ignored the officer’s orders stopping and kept “yelling obscenities” at the officer who was then forced to get in front of him, forcing him to stop.
As the juvenile refused to comply and talk to the officer once again, the officer went on to “legally detain him”, as per the police.
“The officer only used controlling techniques to overcome the juvenile forcibly resisting him. Once the juvenile is handcuffed the entire physical aspect of the incident ends. At no point did the officer hit or strike the juvenile.”
“At no point did the officer curse or yell obscenities at the juvenile. During the course of the incident, the officer referred to the juvenile as a “young man”. The officer went as far as telling the young man that this was not the outcome that he wanted. The event was viewed up close by a postal worker who commended the officer’s restraint.”
At that point, the young man starts resisting and struggles against the officer who is trying to handcuff him. Once handcuffed, the boy continues to yell and rebel against the officer.
The footage of the incident lasted about 45 minutes, after images of the encounter were shared online and caused unsettling responses by netizens, who weren’t aware of the actual chain of events leading up to the encounter.
The police added that the juvenile was released to his mother who was made aware of the exact events that took place and that caused the confrontation. They said a case report was also sent to the juvenile investigative unit for further follow-up.
Juvenile cases in the US have seen a decline over the past ten years. As per a study conducted in 2018, there were about 192,000 serious violent crimes committed by youths between the ages of 12 and 17 in the United States. While the figures for 2017 do not include data for homicides, this is still a significant decrease from 1993 levels, when violent crimes committed by youths hit a peak at over 1.1 million serious crimes.
(Edited by Vaibhav Vishwanath Pawar and Gaurab Dasgupta)
