Syracuse, N.Y. — Anthony Weah was running an errand Sunday when he got a call from Syracuse police.
Officers were at his house with his three sons. The boys were accused of stealing chips from a store, he says he was told.
Weah headed home. The police officers were friendly at the house and didn’t press charges or make them pay for the chips, Weah said.
Later, Weah saw what thousands have seen: A video of his 8-year-old son sobbing and being put into a police car over that same bag of Doritos.
In the video, viewed by almost 2,000 on Facebook and 1.3 million on Twitter, a Syracuse police officer is holding the boy from behind and walking him to a marked police vehicle. Bystanders, including the man who recorded the incident, are shouting at police to let the child go.
“Why would the police treat that child like that?” Weah asked, who said he wants to file a complaint against the police. “Over a $3 bag of chips.”
The boy was never handcuffed, according to Syracuse police. He came home without a mark on him, his father said later.
But by Tuesday afternoon, thousands on social media were weighing in. They included Buffalo Bills Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas and former Syracuse University basketball player and social commenter Etan Thomas.
On Twitter, there was widespread condemnation of police. People saw the police response as a massive overreaction to a minor offense, an example of escalating conflict. The fact that the three cops were white and the child Black led commenters to connect it to a history of racial injustice in urban policing in Syracuse and nationwide.
Said one: “Gee, why don’t Black people trust the police?”
Weah, who is from Ethiopia, acknowledges what his son did was wrong. But he also takes issue with the way the officers handled the incident, which is now under review by the police department.
“The policeman, they are not children,” Weah said. “They are not boys, they’re men.”
Weah said he is grateful Kenneth Jackson was there. Jackson, 37, was running his own errands Sunday when he saw the police had pulled someone off a bicycle. Jackson stopped and began recording.
“He was standing up for them,” Weah said.
Syracuse police officers were filmed putting an 8-year-old boy into a police car on April 17, 2022. The video has now been seen by over one million people on social media. (Provided)
At first, Jackson said, he didn’t realize it was a kid.
“He got snatched off that bike. The bike hit the ground and chips went everywhere,” Jackson said.
Jackson asked what the police were doing. “You can guess what I’m doing,” the officer holding the boy responded.
Another officer told Jackson the boy had been stealing. What didn’t make sense to Jackson, he said, was the officers’ response.
“It was just beyond me that they were actually treating this baby like this,” he said.
The scene grew tense fast. The boy was wailing. Another boy said it “wasn’t him.”
And the adults — the officers and Jackson — began shouting at each other. Jackson asked the police if they knew the parents and he offered to pay for the chips.
One officer recounted recent shoplifting and vandalism in the area. Another asked Jackson if he’d like to go around town paying for things that are taken.
Syracuse police officers are filmed loading a boy's bicycle into their car after holding him from behind and putting him into a police car over a stolen bag of chips on April 17, 2022. (Provided photo)
Jackson said the incident could have been traumatizing to the boy.
“There’s other ways to rectify this besides scare tactics,” he said. “Now that’s just another youth that’s scarred by the system.”
The growing outrage online led the city police to make a statement on Facebook today, two days after the incident. Within two hours, there were nearly 1,000 comments, including support for the cops and criticism of the bystanders but others like this:
“How are we suppose(d) to support and back the blue when they cannot even handle a situation with a child reasonably?” Others commented on the rising incidents of crime.
The incident, including the officers’ actions, and video from body-worn cameras are being reviewed, according to police spokesman Lt. Matthew Malinowski.
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Syracuse police stop a boy, 8, over stolen chips. Sobbing, accusations and a viral video ensue - syracuse.com
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