A viral video showing a Cobb police officer arresting a young black boy at the Cumberland Mall has drawn outrage online from some who say it’s merely the latest example of white officers being too aggressive with children of color.
Cobb Police Chief Mike Register said the department has launched an internal investigation into the incident, which occurred Oct. 6, but added that so far he has seen no evidence the officer violated any rules.
“The officer was in his legal rights to detain the juvenile,” Register said. “We take any incident like this very seriously.”
The department did not release the name of the officer, who is still on active duty, citing a pending investigation.
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The video starts with the officer holding the boy by the arm. It is unclear how the confrontation began.
“You’re 12?” the office is heard asking the boy. “You’re about to go to jail. You’re going to go to a youth detention center if you don’t [inaudible].”
A woman who later identifies herself as the boy’s aunt can be heard off camera defending him.
“I have his father on the phone and you won’t even speak to him,” she says to the officer.
“Yup,” the officer replies.
The camera is jostled as an apparent altercation breaks out and the video ends with the officer calling in the incident as another officer restrains the boy. It has been viewed thousands of times and drew heated criticism from some corners.
“Look how this officer [is] touching this young kid,” filmmaker Jason Pollock wrote when he shared the video on Twitter. “He would never be treating a little white kid like this.”
But Register said there was more to the story than what is seen in the video.
The boy had recently been issued a criminal trespass warning for selling CDs at the mall when security spotted him again and called the Cobb officer, who was working part time for the mall, Register said.
When the officer arrive, the chief said the child was “verbally combative,” refused to answer questions and then made to leave, at which point the officer “got physical control” of him.
Register said the child “pushed or swung at” the officer and then the aunt “physically attacked” him. Eventually they were both taken into custody and the child was released to his father, who was also at the mall that day.
The child is being charged with felony obstruction and misdemeanor criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. The aunt is being charged with felony obstruction and misdemeanor criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and providing a false name to law enforcement.
Register said charging the child with a felony was at the discretion of the officer.
The incident is not the first time the Cobb County Police have come under scrutiny. A 2017 study by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found the department plagued by “perceptions of racism,” although the study said it found no evidence of discrimination.
Just a few months later, though, a lieutenant was forced to step down after he was caught on camera telling a motorist “we only kill black people.”
On Tuesday, Register promised a full investigation and expressed concern that the incident would further damage community-police relations.
“We’re in this together and we’ve got to work together,” he said.
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