But what are you doing? In a video that has been seen more than 5 million times on one of the Twitter accounts that passed it on Monday, a white American police officer arrests a little black girl eight years old. Injury? To be caught “stealing” Doritos, the officers present react in surprise to the man who films the scene.
“She steals a packet of chips and you treat her like a criminal (…) if she stole chips, I’ll pay for it,” the witness tells the police officer who brings the crying child into the back of the police car. According to media reports, the incident happened over the weekend in Syracuse, north of New York†
An internal procedure activated
In an official statement, Syracuse police assured on Tuesday that “the minor suspected of theft was not handcuffed,” but “was placed in the back of a patrol unit and taken home immediately.” “Agents have met the father of the child and no charges have been filed,” the police added, who assured that an internal procedure had been launched and that the incident was “under investigation”.
The video sparked a flood of condemnations on social media and revived recurring accusations of racism by US police. “As a mother, it was a heartbreaking video to watch,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Wednesday. To her, this video is less surprising to African Americans, because “they’ve been” used to different treatment by the police and others, all their lives. “That’s why we need to do more,” she added.
“Instead of talking to her or handling the incident differently, the police chose to make matters worse and arrest an apparently terrified 8-year-old child,” tweeted lawyer Ben Crump of families who have been victims of police brutality. .
