Video Shows Black Girl, 13, Handcuffed By Baltimore Cops As Accused White Woman Culprit Goes Free
Source: Mitchell Layton / Getty
A video has gone viral on social media showing officers with the Baltimore Police Department detaining a 13-year-old Black girl, who they handcuffed, while other officers questioned the older white woman with whom the girl had apparently gotten into an altercation. The video doesn’t show what led to the teen being handcuffed and the woman, well, not being handcuffed, but what it does show is witnesses to whatever happened trying to explain to officers that it was the white woman who was the aggressor and questioning why she wasn’t treated the same way the Black child was.
Essentially, the video, which was posted on Oct. 13, serves as a reminder of why Black people go so hard against Karens. Once they start complaining then crying and then calling the police (not necessarily in that order) we know all too well what the likelihood is that cops will take them at face value while treating us like automatic suspects.
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From the New York Beacon:
The scene took place on the city’s waterfront, where about ten officers were present. The video captured the girl standing calmly with her hands cuffed behind her back, as onlookers questioned the officers about the decision to detain her while the older woman involved in the altercation remained free.
At one point, the woman involved holds up a wallet, accusing the girl of damaging her belongings, though the details of what exactly occurred remain unclear. Despite the disparity in their treatment, the 13-year-old maintains her composure, speaking calmly to the officers. A member of the crowd advises her not to talk until her mother arrives. About six minutes into the video, the handcuffs are finally removed, and the girl is seen making a phone call.
Baltimore police have yet to respond to requests for comment, and no charges appear to have been filed. The identity of the older woman and her role in the altercation remain unknown. The video, however, has sparked debate over racial bias in police conduct, with many viewers pointing out the unequal treatment of the two individuals.
In a summary of the incident, the man who filmed the altercation, known as CongoLarry on TikTok, condemned the police response. “That’s what you call white privilege,” he remarked. “They put a 13-year-old Black girl in handcuffs, and the white woman just stood there.”
“Are you serious?” one woman can be heard shouting at officers as they detained the teen while the white woman stood about 20 yards away calmly speaking with the cops without cuffs on her wrists or literally anything indicating that she was being interrogated like the child she was accused of accosting.
“She broke my thing,” the woman can be heard saying to angry witnesses while holding up a wallet with credit cards falling out.
“You antagonized her. Why did you antagonize that kid?” one witness shouted back at her.
Again, we don’t know what happened, but what we can see is a Black girl in handcuffs, a white woman being treated like the victim, not a criminal, and witnesses exclaiming that the white woman was at fault while none of those witnesses appeared to take her side. We also see clearly that the responding officers were in violation of Maryland’s Child Interrogation Protection Act, which states that “no juvenile can be questioned by police without talking to an attorney first and a parent or guardian notified.”
Basically, all we have to go on is what we see in the video and America’s long history of over-policing Black bodies while protecting white oppressors.
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