Videos showing the forceful arrest of a 13-year-old boy at a Walmart in South Carolina earlier this month have triggered a wave of community backlash against the officers involved in the boy’s detainment.
Summerville Police released bodycam footage from the April 1 incident showing two of their cops confronting a teenage boy who was reportedly selling palmetto roses in front of a Walmart store.
Police stated that Officers Dante Ghi and Katherine Kirkland, who worked in the police department’s hospitality division, responded to complaints that two people were loitering and selling roses at Walmart.
When they arrived, they used the PA system in their patrol car to tell two young men to move along. When the two refused, the officers confronted them personally. Police say the 13-year-old wouldn’t identify himself. They described him as “uncooperative” and “confrontational” with the officers so they opted to detain him.
Police said the boy “resisted” detainment and pushed Ghi into a wall. Then, when Kirkland tried to secure the boy’s arm with a handcuff, the boy “struck” her in the face with a “closed fist.”
In the bodycam footage police released, viewers can see officers approach the teen, and ask for his I.D. and if he had a business license. One said, “I was going to try to be nice, but you got your I.D. on you, man?”
When the young man asks, “Why?” one officer responds, “You’re getting ready to go to jail is why.”
The boy admits to selling roses and started swearing at the officers, but never showed any aggressive or threatening behavior toward them.
That’s when Officer Ghi grabs the young man’s arm and a struggle begins in which both officers work to subdue the boy. Viewers can’t see the boy throw a punch at Kirkland, but police included a photo taken later showing a bruise under her right eye.
“What you see is (his left hand) handcuffed, and the other officer has him subdued and engaged with his right hand….
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