Syracuse Police Handcuffed an 11-Year-Old After Wrongly Accusing Her of Stealing a Car

Police in Syracuse, New York, handcuffed an 11-year-old girl for 7 minutes earlier this month after they mistook her for the suspect in a car theft. Video of the incident, which shows the girl sobbing on a snow-covered street, caused considerable public outcry and led the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office to announce changes to their policy around detaining minors. 

The girl, who has not been publicly identified, was walking home from school with a group of friends when she was approached by police, according to Syracuse.com. A car theft had been reported nearby, and the girl was wearing a very similar outfit to the suspect—a pink coat and camouflage pants. 

“Girl, you’re going to tell me this ain’t you?” one officer said to the girl in footage of the incident taken by another child.

“I don’t even have the same shoes or nothing,” the girl said before pointing out that the suspect had a lighter skin tone than her. 

A brief back-and-forth followed, with the officers insisting that the handcuffed 11-year-old was the culprit, and the girl and her friends pointing out clear physical differences between the two. After one of the officers appeared to speak with someone over the phone, he admitted that the girl wasn’t the suspect, and she was unhandcuffed and released.

Soon after the footage was released, the sheriff’s office announced that it would change how it handles future incidents involving minors. “The Sheriff agrees that moving forward, it will be OCSO policy to notify a parent or guardian of any juvenile who is detained for criminal investigative purposes, no matter how brief the encounter is.” However, the sheriff’s office stood by the officer’s decision to detain the girl. “In reviewing the incident, the detainment of the juvenile was lawful and reasonable, given the juvenile’s proximity and clothing description.”

While the girl in this case did quite closely match the suspect’s initial written description, the department’s apparent philosophy—handcuff minors and ask questions later—leads to unsettling footage like this.

Still, the office defended its practice of immediately detaining suspects, no matter how young they appear to be. “Detainees are usually handcuffed initially. Detainees may become uncooperative, may decide to flee, or may decide to fight,” reads the press release. “Handcuffing from the start usually prevents a controlled situation from devolving into an uncontrolled situation; ultimately preventing altercations, force, and potential for injury.”

The girl’s mother disagrees that handcuffing children like her daughter was appropriate. “She no longer wants to walk to and from school anymore. That was the only freedom she had, and it’s now gone,” the girl’s mother told a CBS6 Albany. “I can’t make sense of it. I couldn’t even finish watching the video. Even if it wasn’t my child, I wouldn’t be able to finish watching the video, because that’s not how you handle children.”

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