North Carolina: Black kids traumatized as cops point guns at them to 'get on the ground', families get no apology
It's been more than three months since George Floyd met a brutal end at the hands of the police in Minneapolis and the incident sparked outrage across America’s cities. However, even as ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests continued, incidents of institutional attack on Black individuals did not cease. In June, Rayshard Brooks was killed in a police firing in Atlanta and a week ago, Jacob Blake was shot in the back several times by cops in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which left him paralyzed waist down.
And amid the violent repercussions of the Blake incident, a Black child in Durham, North Carolina, has revealed his spine-chilling experience. Zakarryya Cornelius, nine, has said that he is now “terrified” of cops after some officers in uniform pulled their guns on him and two of his older Black friends while they were playing outside their apartment complex last week, the local WRAL.com reported on Thursday, August 27.
Three minors were asked to 'get on the ground'
The report said that Zakarryya was playing with Jaylin Harris, 15, and another unnamed friend, 11, at the Rochelle Manor Apartments complex when five cops allegedly confronted them and pointed their guns at them and ordered them to “get on the ground”. They even handcuffed Jaylin before Zakarryya’s mother Makeba Hoffler came to their rescue, the report added.
"As soon as we come around the corner, we walk into five cops pointing guns at us saying, 'Freeze!' and 'Get on the ground!'" Jaylin was quoted as saying in the report. "So, we were just thinking, like, what did we do? We didn’t even do anything wrong." He said the officers searched and handcuffed him while their firearms remained pointed at them. The teenager said the officers didn’t even respond when he asked them the reason for such treatment. “They didn’t say, ‘Sorry for the inconvenience’. They just kept going about their day,” he said, adding that he only hoped that he survived the day.
Zakarryya said he was as terrified and conceded that he is now afraid of cops. “Every time I see them, I feel like I got to get on the ground,” he said.
Hoffler, who saw the incident from their house, came out with a three-year-old in her arms to stop the police officers. “Even as I proceeded to run toward the officer screaming, 'They are kids,' their guns were still drawn. ‘I’m going to die tonight.’ That’s what I was thinking because, like I said, I was not going to bury my son, and I was not going to bury none of these kids,” the terrified mother said. She was rattled by the thought that what would have happened had the scared kids ran away from the armed cops.
Smartphone footage captured the aftermath of the incident showing Jaylin cuffed and surrounded by the cops.
Jaylin had similarities with someone possessing gun & selling drugs, cops say
The Durham Police Department was investigating the incident. The police said none of the minors were charged with a crime and clarified to the families that they had received a report of someone carrying a gun and selling drugs at the apartment complex having similarities with Jaylin.
“Durham officers responded to this location several times earlier in the day for weapons-related calls,” Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said in a statement on Thursday. “The Durham Police Department remains fully committed to working with the residents of Rochelle Manor Apartments, as well as our entire community, in maintaining safety.”
But the boys’ families were not convinced.
“These are good kids. They’re babies. There’s no justification. There’s nothing that they can say or do to make this all right.” Hoffler said. The families met with officers on Wednesday, August 26, hoping to get an apology and assurance that such incidents would not happen again but their wish was not fulfilled.
Durham’s Democratic Mayor Steve Schewel said he didn’t know the details of the incident but kept faith in Davis in resolving the problems. “All of our communities need to be safe from violence, and that includes any violence that might occur or fear of violence that might occur when police are involved,” he said.
Davis also said in her statement that the cops are “equally sensitive” towards promoting trust and positive interactions between the officers and children. But Hoffler said while she told her kids not to hate cops, the incident now puts her in a difficult position to convince them not to hate people who put a gun to them.