- Child handcuffed despite identifying as a minor during a search for an adult suspect
- Police department acknowledges the incident is under review but defends officers' safety concerns
- Transparency after the fact does not address the core question of why the child was detained
A Canton, Ohio police department is catching heat after video surfaced showing officers handcuffing a child during a search for an actual adult suspect, because apparently “making sure we have the right person” was somewhere near the bottom of the priority list.
According to Cleveland.com, officers were searching for people connected to a string of Kia and Hyundai thefts when a K-9 tracked the suspects toward Highland Road. Officers then encountered a minor on a porch who they believed matched the description of one of the suspects. The child was handcuffed while officers investigated, and the video shows the youngster repeatedly telling police, “I’m a kid.” That should have been the end of the confusion. Instead, it became the beginning of a viral controversy.
Cleveland 19 reports that the actual primary suspect was Kenneth Moore Jr., 18, who police say had felony warrants, was suspected of carrying a gun and had a history of assault. Moore was ultimately arrested Monday in connection with the vehicle theft investigation.
Read that again.
Police were allegedly hunting an 18-year-old man with felony warrants who they believed could be armed, yet somehow a child standing on a porch ended up in handcuffs. And once officers determined the minor wasn’t involved, he was released. But that doesn’t magically erase what happened. A child was apparently detained because officers thought he fit a description, and now the department is reviewing the encounter after footage spread across social media.
The Canton Police Department says it released information about the incident to be transparent, but transparency after the fact doesn’t answer the biggest question: Why was this child treated like a suspect before officers established that he was actually a suspect?
I expect my officers to communicate professionally and respectfully and our actions should always be guided by our values and our training. It is never our intention to subject innocent bystanders to custody or involve the general public unnecessarily in police operations.
However, this short video clip is currently being shared and commented on without consideration of all the facts the officers had at the time. These facts and the officer’s actions are under review, so I will not comment about this situation specifically, but I will recognize the unfortunate truth that juveniles are increasingly involved in gun violence and our officers frequently encounter kids who are armed.
We cannot dismiss an officer’s safety concerns simply because he or she is contacting a juvenile.
That isn’t just an awkward misunderstanding. It’s exactly the kind of police encounter that deserves scrutiny, particularly when the person being detained is an obvious minor who apparently had to remind armed officers of something they should have been painfully
