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Body camera footage released by a police department in Maryland shows two officers berating a five-year-old boy, calling him a “little beast”, and threatening him with a beating.
The incident occurred in January after the boy, who is Black, walked away from his elementary school before being found by the officers.
The video, released on Friday by the Montgomery County Police Department, shows one officer screaming at the crying child, with her face inches from his.
“Oh, my God, I’d beat him so bad,” the officer said, before telling the child: “You do not embarrass me like this at school.”
The boy’s mother, Shanta Grant, has filed a lawsuit over the incident. She is suing Montgomery County, the county’s education board, and the two officers, who are also Black.
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Her lawyers say the video shows the officers treating her son “as if he were a hardened criminal.”
Ms Grant is seeking “justice and fair compensation for the trauma he endured.”
“She also hopes that the incident will lead to changes in policy and training, both with the school and the police,” the attorneys, Matthew Bennett and James Papirmeister, said in a statement.
Montgomery County Public Schools issued a statement describing the video as “extremely difficult” to watch.
“There is no excuse for adults to ever speak to or threaten a child in this way,” the school system said. “As parents and grandparents, we know that when families send their children to school, they expect that the staff will care for them, keep them safe and use appropriate intervention processes when needed.”
Both officers in the video are still employed by the department after a thorough internal investigation was conducted, according to a police spokesperson.
The full video of the incident runs to more than 50 minutes after officers found the boy a block away from East Silver Spring Elementary School.
They drive the boy back to the school, where they were met by a school administrator. The video shows an officer forcing the crying child onto a chair in the principal’s office.
“Shut that noise up now!” the other officer shouted near the boy’s face. “I hope your momma let me beat you.”
One of the officers pulled out his handcuffs and closed one loop around the child’s right wrist.
“You know what these are for?” he asked the boy. “These people that don’t want to listen and don’t know how to act.”
Montgomery County Council member Will Jawando said the video “made me sick” and described the officers screaming at the boy and mocking and degrading him as “violence”.
County Executive Marc Elrich said in a statement that he has told the police chief to revisit officer training for interactions with children.
He said: “Our police officers are not social workers, psychologists, or therapists and should not be giving advice or direction on parenting. Police duties should end as soon as school personnel are present to take over care of a child.”
With reporting from the Associated Press
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