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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022 04-13 After Maplewood officers detain and handcuff 4 juveniles, ages 10,12,16, their mothers speak out PIONEER PRESSNEWS ^ CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY After Maplewood officers detain and handcuff 4 juveniles, ages 10,12,16, their mothers speak out fbsltnli Y 0 h tallll ciru Fue:sda, oll 12, 2022.�about the tirauNr�ua e.xpeeirleernce d ira ;"'aniran�ra, to Iks etG�iroirn a rie"rnrs conference eJa�tsu�e 111a�s c.Wnrcca: City y, Alum y line,ir 16 yeah-ollld scrim after Maplewood police detalii nee Il�liir>m and three ctlheirju veirnli s y, AM�air'lll 11. Il...00kliirng on Is li�a�ir attorney, t:�, Iles �unu Ift(lezmiata, Jeff Storms. (John A.u�tey l F1'oirner,eir IFliress), By IMAIRA IH. GOTTIl I mgottfried@pioneerpress.com I Pioneer Press PUBLISHED: April 12, 2022 at 5:24 p.m. I UPDATED: April 12, 2022 at 10:47 p.m. Maplewood police investigating shots fired Monday night detained fourjuveniles. Their mothers are angry, saying their children — 10-, 12- and 16-year-olds — should not have been handcuffed or put in squad cars. After police determined the youths weren't involved in the shots -fired incident, they released them, according to Maplewood police Lt. Joe Steiner. He said police detained the juveniles for approximately 40 minutes, less than half of which they were handcuffed and seated in squad cars while officers conducted their preliminary investigation. Police received a report at 9:32 p.m. Monday about four juveniles seen outside a business in the 1700 block of Cope Avenue and then gunshots being heard, Steiner said. Officers responded to the area at 9:35 p.m. and located four juveniles about 200 yards from the location of the shots fired, according to police. Two ran and then returned to speak with officers. "These are little kids," said Tanya Gile, whose 12-year-old son was detained along with two other boys and a girl. "They're already Pararno and another teerr died when thev were Da.s.sen�,er.s in a stollen vehicle that their 15-vear-olld friend crashed in IVlapllewood. The driver had fled from law enforcement, and the Ramsey County sheriff's office said a deputy pursuing them lost sight of them before they crashed in a yard. Toshira Garraway said her 16-year-old son also was detained Monday night. He was Marcoz's best friend and his father died when he was 3, leading to Garraway starting Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence. BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented the family of George Floyd in reaching a $27 million settlement with Minneapolis over Floyd's murder in 2020, posted on social media about the Maplewood case. He shared a Facebook video Tuesday of Garraway yelling at officers at the scene and wrote that "innocent kids sat in the back of a police car! This is completely unacceptable!" There is body camera footage of what happened Monday night, according to Steiner. He said Maplewood officers "acted very professionally during this incident and exactly how we would expect them to act." "Violence and gun violence in our communities throughout the metro is an issue and law enforcement is working diligently to address it," he said. A friend of Toshira Garraway pasted a live video on Facebook as she responded to her 16 year -old son and his friends being detained in Maplewood on April 11, 2022. Listener note: Video contains expletives. WALK BACK FROM MCDONALD'S TURNS INTO DETAINMENT The four kids walked to get food at McDonald's at Cope and White Bear avenues, which is near their residences, and were heading home Monday night, Gile said. When police stopped them, the children "cooperated, they didn't pose a threat," said attorney Jeff Storms, who worked with Crump on the lawsuit brought by Floyd's family. The officers had already determined they weren't armed when they handcuffed them, he added. Two of the younger kids initially ran because they're afraid of police, Garraway said. She said her son called her from the back of a squad car, asking for help for him and his friends. Gile and Garraway said they're looking into taking legal action over the situation. Three of the children are Black and one is Latino, according to the two mothers. "I personally find it very hard to believe that white children in other communities in Minnesota would have been treated in a similar fashion," Storms said. Police say they stopped the juveniles because they were looking for a group of four, and they were near the location of the shots fired just after they were reported. POLICE CHIEF MET WITH MOTHER, ATTORNEY Garraway said when she arrived Monday night, she initially talked to police calmly, told them the kids were already traumatized, and asked if officers could take them out of squad cars and handcuffs. She said they told her, "No, we're doing an investigation." She said she became upset and could be heard cursing repeatedly at officers in a widely viewed video that Garraway's friend posted live on Facebook. A girl who'd been detained was crying after she was released, the video showed. "What's particularly concerning is that it took two mothers on the scene to get these officers to appreciate and respect the constitutional rights of these children," Storms said. POLICE STILL LOOKING FOR SUSPECTS IN CASE Maplewood police released surveillance footage from a business, with a timestamp of Monday at 9:26 p.m., in which three gunshots could be heard and four people were seen walking away. Steiner said police were responding to that report on Monday night. About 20 minutes after police detained the four juveniles, "through the investigation and developing new information, they believed that these juveniles were most likely involved in the shots -fired incident and that's why, with that new information, they were handcuffed and seated in the back of the squad cars;' Steiner said. It was "a fluid situation;' police were concerned that someone had a gun and it was dark outside, Steiner said. Handcuffing is "standard procedure and that's for the safety of the juveniles, the officers and the public," he added. When officers were able to review video surveillance, they determined the four juveniles who were detained were not the people in the video, Steiner said. They released the juveniles, who Steiner said were not under arrest during the incident. Police were still looking for the suspects involved in the shots fired as of Tuesday afternoon. Tags: Crime, Maplewood ,",,,1Au1hor Mara H. Gottfried I St. Paul crime and public safety reporter Mara Gottfried has been a Pioneer Press reporter since 2001, mostly covering public safety. Gottfried lived in St. Paul as a young child and returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Maryland. You can reach her at 651-228- 5262. mgottfried@pioneerpress.com F Follow Mara H. Gottfried mara.gottfried 4 Follow Mara H. Gottfried @IMIaraGottfried n�� Urn