Crime & Justice

Cops Took Black Kid From Family SUV, Then Said He Was ‘Lost’ in Pro-Police Facebook Post

‘IT’S PROPAGANDA’

A viral video shows Philadelphia cops smashing in the windows, throwing mom Rickia Young to the ground, then taking the 2-year-old from the back seat.

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Twitter/Riley H. Ross III

Philadelphia police allegedly pulled a 2-year-old Black toddler from the back seat of his family’s SUV after breaking all of the windows and injuring his mother in a violent arrest—then a police union posted a photo of the child on Facebook and claimed officers were protecting him after he got “lost.” The incident happened early Tuesday when the boy’s mom was driving near a protest over the police shooting of 27-year-old Black man Walter Wallace Jr. A viral video shows officers smashing in the vehicle’s windows, throwing mom Rickia Young to the ground, then taking the child from the back seat. In a deleted Facebook post, the Fraternal Order of Police union uploaded a photo of an officer cradling the same kid with a caption claiming that he was “lost during the violent riots,” “wandering around barefoot,” and that police were “protecting this child.” Attorney Riley H. Ross III told The Washington Post: “It’s propaganda... That little boy is terrified because of what the police did.” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Young was released without charges and was treated at a hospital for bruises and cuts from the broken glass.

Read it at The Washington Post

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