Police officers donât always resort to violence â sometimes they just settle for embarrassment on people they are searching or detaining.
Just look at this video of officers from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington, D.C. searching a Black teenager in public by crouching down behind him and pointing a flashlight up his rear end while his pants are down in front of hundreds of people.
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According to the Atlanta Black Star, officers stopped the teenager for attempting to ride his bike through a protest that was taking place outside the hotel where the White House Correspondents Dinner was taking place over the weekend.
âOfficers stopped a juvenile male for attempting to ride a bike through a demonstration. The juvenile did not obey lawful commands given by officers on scene. A stop was conducted, and he was sent on his way,â a spokesperson for the MPD stated.
Protesters were voicing their frustration with President Joe Bidenâs response to the ongoing violent conflict between Israel and Palestine.
In another social media post, Chuck Modiano, the journalist who took the original video, was seen asking a bystander who spoke to police officers why they were searching the teenager so invasively.
When asked what an officer told her, the bystander said, âI was talking to him [the police officer] about the young boy who was riding his bike through and he said he wasnât going to turn around so they tackled him to the groundâŠIt was at least three or four adults.â
âWhy are you arresting a kid that just wanted to pass by through this lane that he probably bikes through every day? He said, âYou donât know if this kid was on his way to kill somebody. You donât if he had a bomb or knife or planning to rob someone.ââ
The bystander noted that the police officer she spoke to was also Black.
She also said that the officer told her, ââThere is a reason why a lot of these kids these days are committing so much crime itâs because they donât have fathers,â though the teenagerâs father came to the scene to pick his son up after he was searched.
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