Bloomington Police Face Scrutiny Over Viral Video of Violent Restraint of Black Teen
There is growing outrage in Bloomington, Ind. after a 13-year-old African-American boy was restrained on the ground by police, and spat out, “I Can’t Breathe” to officers to no avail.
Video footage, posted by the IU on the Strike X page shows officers of the Bloomington Police Department restraining the juvenile planted face down on the ground while being violently restrained by police outside of the University of Sewing store on 11th Street in town around 9:25 p.m. according to the Bloomingtonian.
The boy’s family and friends recorded the incident and posted it on social media where it shows four white officers on top of him as he begs for breath. Screaming the all too familiar cries out for help, “I Can’t Breathe,” at one point in the video.
Police and emergency aid reportedly harassed the family including the boy’s mother who was seeing her son lie face-first on the ground as responders restrained the young boy violently.
In the video, seven police cars and EMTs were dispatched to the scene with bystanders looking on at the chaos.
It was later reported that the police were first tipped about an altercation the boy had with another Black male involving a firearm, but nothing was found at the scene, but the second call was different which helped trigger the situation from bad to worse.
Once police arrived at where the boy was at, a group of Black males gathered around the area and started fighting once the police came out to the scene where one boy pulled out a handgun.
According to the Bloomingtonian, Police tried to approach the teens when some of the kids they were looking at tried to flee the scene. Once Officers got to the 13-year-old boy, they arrested the boy leading to a struggle once Police faced the boy face-first down on the ground.
The second suspect, a 14-year-old, tried to interfere with the arrest and was later arrested.
Once police searched through the scene, the 13-year-old boy had a toy replica of a Glock handgun in his waistband while the Police restrained him leading to officers getting injured.
Before being transported the boy then reportedly showed signs of shortness of breath and was transported to an area hospital where his family arrived causing more of a disturbance as the boy tried to escape the cop car, Police restrained him, and a 14-year-old relative was arrested after trying to intervene in the situation and threatened to “stab someone,” according to reports.
The Bloomington organization “Care Not Cages” said in a statement Wednesday that was also posted to Instagram, “This is an unconscionable event for a city that prides itself on a civil, community-oriented police force.”
“We call out the racism that makes so many Americans, especially police, unable to see Black children as children. We denounce the obvious racism in the police's inability to read a Black woman as anything but “angry.” We deplore the EMTs’ telling local citizens filming the violence to “move along,” making themselves adjuncts to police violence rather than fulfilling their mandate to heal.”
The statement also read, “This travesty underscores the urgency of our core belief that creating genuine safety in our community can only be accomplished through providing each other with what we need to survive and thrive, not through the inherently reactive, violent, and ineffectual means of police.”
This comes on the heels of Independence Day in America when in 2020 the worst racist hate crime in Bloomington history occurred at Lake Monroe that weekend.
The 13-year-old boy was arrested, and charged with two counts of Intimidation and Resisting Law Enforcement Resulting in Injury.
Another 14-year-old male was arrested for Resisting Law Enforcement Resulting in Injury, and the 14-year-old female family member was also arrested, charged with a class C misdemeanor of Unlawful Encroachment and a class A misdemeanor of Resisting Law Enforcement.
This has caused many racial rifts throughout the Bloomington community while the United States joins together to celebrate equal rights to everyone as well as the freedom to live in peace regardless of skin or nationality.