A teenager who was arrested for jaywalking has had the last laugh after a judge threw out his ridiculous case.
The 17-year-old was on the sidewalk with friends in the suburb of Dunleith on June 29 this year when the group realized cops were preparing to approach them.
Perhaps sensing something was not right, he took out his phone and began filming the interaction, capturing the moment two officers pulled up to the group.
In the clip, an officer is heard aggressively demanding they stop and provide identification, but is reluctant to tell them why. Within just one minute, the teenager is arrested.
While he exacted some form of revenge when a judge later threw out the case, the teen’s mother has since branded the officer’s conduct as ‘absolutely unhinged’.
A black teenager from Delaware was stopped by police officers while walking along the street
A group of black friends were walking on the street in Dunleith, a suburb of Wilmington when they were ‘randomly’ stopped
Video sees several patrol cars pulling up alongside the group of teen before an officer can be heard yelling ‘Stop it, you guys, stop!’
When the teen asks why he is being stopped, the officer simply repeats his order: ‘I’m telling you to stop.’
‘What you stopping me for,’ the teen asks again before the officer responds: ‘You’re about to be detained right now if you don’t stop.’
The teen can be heard asking for clarification for a third time – ‘What you trying to detain me for? … Tell us,’ he asks.
‘Stop walking and just chill. … Right now, we’re stopping you for a pedestrian violation,’ the officer responds before he asks for ID.
‘Pedestrian violation of what?’ the teenager asks.
But the patience of the officer appears to grow thin, fast and without warning immediately pulls out his handcuffs to place the teen under arrest.
‘Alright, turn around and put your hands behind your back,’ the officer demands.
When asked what he was being searched for, the agitated officer simply says that he is being detained as part of a ‘traffic stop’.
‘Right now, you’re being detained because you are uncooperating with a traffic stop,’ the officer says.
But the explanation seems far-fetched to the teen. ‘How am I being a traffic stop? I’m not in a vehicle, sir,’ the teen replies.
The officer explained that it was a ‘traffic stop’ then changed his mind to a ‘pedestrian stop’
Only one teen member of the group was arrested by police and put in handcuffs
Despite his arrest for jaywalking, it turns out the teen has had the last laugh with the charges against him being dismissed by a judge
‘It’s called a pedestrian stop,’ the officer responds.
But when the teen asks exactly what that means, the officer loses his patience.
‘You want to shut the f*** up and let me explain it to you? You crossed the road without using the crosswalk.’
The teen was the only one out of his group of friends to be ticketed but ultimately the charges against him dismissed by a judge.
‘I don’t understand if he thought it was going to get me angry or what he thought it was going to possibly do,’ the teen said to Delaware Online. ‘I don’t know. I’m still in shock about it.’
The boy’s mother Paula Wright said the officer involved in the arrest was ‘unhinged’.
‘I think they’re absolutely unhinged. To be honest with you, I think that they’re the biggest gang in Delaware,’ Wright said.
‘The cop, for him to get out of the car and say “Stop right there. Give me your ID right now. I’m gonna detain you”, What sort of approach is that?’ she asks.
The police have maintained they were right to stop the group of young people, claiming they had been observed behaving both ‘recklessly’ and ‘suspiciously’.
‘Officers witnessed the group run across New Castle Avenue without utilizing a proper crosswalk. While crossing the road, one of the individuals was observed running recklessly through active traffic, nearly causing an accident,’ said Senior Cpl. Richard Chambers in a statement.
It was claimed another teen was walking holding his waistband, possibly to give the impression to others that he might have been carrying a weapon in his pants.
Officers said also said that two of the teens had been ‘wearing hooded sweatshirts with the hoods up,’ which also made officers suspicious.
‘Officers observed this to be odd as it was approximately 80 degrees,’ the statement said.
