Mother shares video of armed police surrounding black son after they assumed he was attacker when teen called 911
‘Just keep your hands up. It’ll be over soon,’ one bystander shouted at teenager
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Your support makes all the difference.Multiple California police officers were filmed pointing guns at three African American teenagers who were were allegedly being threatened by a homeless man.
The mother of one of the teenagers in the video, Tammi Collins, shared an 11-minute clip to her Instagram page, showing officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department aiming guns at them in Santa Clarita, California, on 7 August.
Ms Collins wrote in the caption of her video: “I wanted to share what happened to my son yesterday in SCV when he was with a couple of friends sitting at a bus stop headed home.”
She added: “He was attacked by a gentleman (homeless guy) who approached them and first asked them if they had any crack then tried to take their things.”
Ms Collins said that the man then pulled out a knife and become aggressive, so the teenagers attempted to defend themselves by using their skateboards to make sure he kept a safe distance.
She added that multiple calls were made to the police by witnesses, but that one of the callers told the authorities that “two black guys were attacking a homeless man”.
The 11-minute video started as two police officers pointed handguns at Ms Collins’ son, but within a minute one of their colleagues, who was holding what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle, arrived and pointed it at him while he held his hands in the air.
Bystanders could be seen shouting at the officers, and they attempted to get the police to drop their weapons by telling them that the teenagers had done nothing wrong and were the ones who had been attacked.
While the bystanders attempted to explain to the police that the teenagers had defended themselves, one of officers shouted: “Get away from me!” and “back up!”
Two minutes into the video, one of the teenagers could be seen on his knees being handcuffed by an officer, while his colleague pointed a handgun at the back of his head.
“Just keep your hands up. It’ll be over soon,” one bystander shouted as a second teenager was arrested, while another said: “They don’t care because (they’re) black,” repeatedly, as the authorities arrested the teenagers.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to TMZ that they responded to the incident after they received a call from someone who told them that two adult men were attacking another man with a skateboard.
After the police spoke to witnesses, the teenagers were released without any charge, but the authorities said that “the Dept doesn’t know what happened to the homeless man,” according to TMZ.
Ms Collins added that “this is something my son and his friends will never forget. I’m still wonder how will I ever help my son recover from this traumatic experience. Please pray for my family.”
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