On March 8, police officers detained two minors following a reported altercation on a bus on Madison’s North Side, using force that one child’s family and community members see as excessive.
A community meeting to discuss the incident will take place at 6:30 p.m. this evening at the Northport Community Center, 1740 Northport Drive.
The parents of one of the children said he was attempting to get away from a physical altercation on the bus. The driver reported the altercation and Madison police headed to a stop in front of the Northport Apartments, 1740 Northport Dr, and detained two boys.
Video provided to Madison365 shows at least six officers on the scene, with three officers pinning one of the boys on the ground. as other students recorded the incident. The boy’s mother recounted her son telling her that he was scared and tried to move one of his arms from a position officers put it in while arresting him which caused him pain.
“My cousins, they were all there videotaping and screaming. It was so bad. It was so bad,” said Loretta Quaye, mother of the boy arrested. “When I asked him, I said, ‘What did you do?’ He said, ‘I didn’t do anything. Those girls jumped me and then we were fighting.’”
The following video contains explicit language.
In the video, two officers can be seen putting the full weight of their body on the boy while a third joins in to help. All three officers pinned a knee into the boy along his legs, side and back. The video shows the boy attempting to move his arm to avoid pain, as noted by the recount to his mother, while officers continuously tried to pull it back with force.
One officer is seen not touching anyone in the video. The last officer is seen pinning and arresting the other minor in an orange sweatshirt who was let go by the end of the video.
Police put the 14-year-old boy into the back of a squad car.
Police attempted to contact his parents, but they were at work. Another relative came to pick him up from the station. A vacation was already planned for the boy to go to Nigeria on March 11. After the incident, he was eager to leave immediately, and his parents wanted him to go for his safety. He is currently staying with his grandparents in Nigeria, according to Quaye.
Now, the community is coming together to address the issue tonight.
The Madison Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Madison365 has requested the incident report, but it is undergoing a heavy redaction process by Madison Police to protect the names of all minors involved. Madison365 expects to receive the redacted incident report this Friday after approval to expedite the request that typically takes six to eight weeks to fulfill.
The story is still developing.
