US: Black boy, 7, choked by white man; mother arrested

By Kasim Ileri

WASHINGTON

A black woman and her teen daughter were arrested in Texas after they called police to complain about a white neighbor who choked the woman’s seven-year old son.

A Facebook video of Jacqueline Craig’s detention Wednesday has gone viral, receiving more than 530,000 views in 11 hours.

Craig can be heard telling an unidentified Forth Worth police officer her neighbor choked her son because he littered in his yard.

It can not be heard on video what the neighbor told the officer but the policeman asked Craig why she did not teach her son not to litter right before an argument erupted between the pair.

As Craig walked toward the officer, her daughter tried to calm her mother as the policeman grabed the 15-year-old from behind.

Onlookers yelled at the officer as he pinned Craig and held a teaser to her head and then handcuffed her and the teen.

“We have secured the release of Brea Hymond,” family attorney Lee Merritt tweeted Thursday.

He told Anadolu Agency the pair was “in good spirits,” but that Craig and her daughter consider the officer’s treatment “harassment” after they made the call to complain about the neighbor but in turn were treated as criminals.

“I saw it as a really troubling response to a 911 call,” Merritt said.

He said the neighbor admitted to the officer that he grabbed the boy because he defied his order not to litter in his yard.

Merritt said the family plans to file a criminal complaint against the neighbor and has requested the court drop all charges against his clients. The charges include resisting arrest, interfering with public work and failure to produce identification.

The office engaged in “excessive use of force” and “racial bias”, according to Merritt.

“We are looking for the officer to be immediately released from the force. We are looking for the officer to be criminally charged for criminal assault,” he said.

Merritt said his office received similar cases everyday but those complaints do not result in a public outcry because they are not filmed and shared on social media.

Social media users have responded with outrage to the video.

“SHAME on the @FortWorthPD for brutalizing this mother & her children. I have nothing but anger/fury,” author and Black Lives Matter leading activist Shaun King said via Twitter.

“I’m LIVID, this hurt my soul. This is beyond unjust. We need to BE and STAY solid for this family, our community and each other,” Facebook user Porsha Craver wrote under footage of the incident.

The Fort Worth Police Department released a statement that said it has seen the video and is investigating.