12-year-old Black boy w/ autism was handcuffed/concussed by cops at a cop run tennis program

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Twelve-year-old Black boy with autism was handcuffed and concussed by cops at a local tennis program run by police that his mom signed him up for, in order for him to learn to trust cops

As previously stated, Curtis Hayes has autism, so his mother wanted to sign him up for an after school activity. Since the boy’s uncle is a police officer, his mother, Shelia Jackson, signed him up for an after school tennis program, which is run by local police officers. Given all of the press about officers of the law, Jackson felt this would be a good way for her son to meet the local force. In addition, she felt this would show all officers are not bad people.

Shelia Jackson arrived at the program to pick her son up, one November 2022 day, to see that the worst had happened. Upon arrival, she saw her son was in handcuffs. Also, Jackson learned her son had a concussion. With her child already having autism, she could only imagine his fear, seeing him lying on the ground in cuffs. The staff informed her that her son grew upset with his tennis performance and walked away. After police got involved, her son headbutted an officer. As a result, they cuffed him to restrain him.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/twelve-year-old-black-boy-with-autism-was-handcuffed-and-concussed-by-cops-at-a-local-tennis-program-run-by-police-that-his-mom-signed-him-up-for-in-order-for-him-to-learn-to-trust-cops/ar-AA166maI

She said the staff told her Curtis was becoming frustrated by his tennis serves and they asked him to practice to the side of everyone else.

Jackson said Curtis told her that a female officer raised her voice at him and he began to walk away.

She believes that the officer may have seen this behavior as defiant, but Jackson says that her son 'knows to try to self-regulate' and that walking away was his way of doing that.

However, as Jackson puts it, the officer may not have been aware of that and instead grabbed the 12-year-old.

She said: 'When I got here my son was handcuffed on the ground right behind where that fence is opened. There was an officer holding his head, there was an officer on his left leg, someone on his right leg, there was an officer on his right side kneeling holding his shoulders down and then there was another officer standing up.'

Richmond Police told Jackson that Curtis headbutted an officer when he was in their custody and they cuffed him thinking he would run away, according to CBS6.

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Richmond Police said that there is an internal investigation into the incident but they did not provide any further details.



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11608827/Black-boy-12-autism-cuffed-CONCUSSED-police-officers-police-outreach-program.html