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A viral TikTok video that showed Lansing, Michigan, officers mistakenly arresting a Black teenager while he was taking out the trash has triggered a massive backlash on social media against law enforcement officials.
The 4-and-a-half-minute video posted to TikTok on Thursday, August 10, by user @careyann327, showed a Black teenager being led away in handcuffs as the teen’s father comes out of his home and argues with police.
While the video shot at a distance was mostly inaudible, it appeared at one point the teen’s frustrated father told the police:
“This is a perfect kid. Why do you put him in handcuffs.”
He then added:
“Why does a Black kid have to go through a trauma like this at all time.”
The police responded that the teenager "fit the description."
The father then started speaking to the man filming the video and said:
“They traumatized my son.”
He also noted the ordeal his son faced during the rudimentary task of coming out of the house to take out the garbage.
The video has triggered a massive backlash on social media, prompting one user to say:
“I smell a lawsuit.”
Several others also echoed the statement:
The video concluded with the police releasing the kid after realizing they detained the wrong suspect.
Lansing police department issues statement regarding Michigan teen's arrest for taking out trash
In the wake of the massive outrage online, the Lansing, Michigan, police department addressed the video and called it an “unfortunate misunderstanding.” The police said they mistakenly arrested the Black teenager they believed to be a suspect in a string of car thefts in Michigan.
In a Facebook post posted on Friday, Lansing police said that the Black teenager matched the description of the suspect they were actively pursuing at the time. Authorities also said that the Black teenager was wearing clothes that matched the suspect's description. The post read:
“On Thursday afternoon, our officers were investigating a string of Kia thefts, including a specific one reported on the 3600 block of W. Jolly Road with multiple suspects. A witness described a suspect as wearing neon shorts and a white shirt.”
They added:
"The initial officer was able to respond and clarify the young man in the video was not the suspect who fled earlier. Once this information was obtained, the young man was released and officers continued to search the area. Community relations is a top priority for us as a department, from the top-down. Our hope is we can put this unfortunate case of “wrong place, wrong time” behind us and continue to represent the community that we serve."
The Michigan Lansing department also released the image of the suspect they were pursuing at the time of the incident.
