A video taken of the Stockton, Ca., Police arresting a 16-year-old teen has caused members of the Stockton Police Department to come under fire.
The incident began with a teenager "walking in a bus-only lane reserved for buses to enter a depot and drop off passengers," according to USA Today. Following this, Officer Joe Silva asked the teen to move, to which Silva alleged he did not comply.
This led to Silva restraining the 16-year-old and calling eight other officers for backup. Silva claimed that the boy "grabbed his baton and almost got control of it," but some others watching did not see it like this.
"It's a f--cking kid!" a woman in the video shouted as the boy was "wrestled to the ground." Some witnesses claimed the boy only jaywalked, and have since displayed their disapproval of the situation on social media.
"You people are disgusting and need to learn how to respect the community you 'serve,'" Brandon Adams from La Habra California wrote on the SPD's Facebook page.
After his arrest, the boy was released to his mother and cited for trespassing. Silva suggests that the boy was not compliant and was vulgar.
"When the officer approached the boy and asked him to move to the sidewalk, the kid immediately started using obscene language and said that he wouldn't listen,"according to RT News. After a preliminary investigation from internal affairs the police in question have not been found guilty of wrong doing. Others disagree with this and believe there was some type of alterior motive based on racial profiling, and police misconduct.
"Racially motivated police brutality has become a major issue across the United States, extending far beyond the high-profile cases of black men and boys being killed by officers," according to News Mic.
