The reason this happened, he says, is because he is white and she is black.
Scott Henson, a political consultant who blogs about the criminal justice system at Grits For Breakfast said he was walking home from a roller skating rink with his 5-year-old granddaughter Ty last Friday night when he was stopped by a female deputy.
The officer told him that there were reports of a white man kidnapping a black girl and he was ordered to step away from Ty as the officer questioned the girl, the New York Daily News reported.
"He's my Grandpa!" was Ty's response, according to Henson's blog.
After a few minutes of questioning, Henson and Ty were allowed to walk home. They were just two blocks away when they were stopped by five flashing police cars and a crowd of police.
"The officers got out with tasers drawn demanding I raise my hands and step away from the child," Henson said.
"One of them called out in a comforting tone that they weren't there to hurt her, but another officer blew up any good will that might have garnered by brusquely snatching her up and scuttling her off to the back seat of one of the police cars," Henson said.
The officers kept questioning Ty over and over again, but Henson said they took their sweet time calling the phone numbers he gave them to verify that she was his granddaughter and he had permission to walk her home.
Henson said the police never apologized, even after they released them, though they did explain that they take kidnapping calls very seriously.
Henson, however, recalls that a very similar situation happened back in 2008, according to the Daily Mail.
As frightening as it was for Ty, Henson said she was happy about one thing: The police officer questioning her did let her play with the flashlight.
I feel so badly for both of them. We have thankfully never had such an experience. But my sister and brother and I certainly have been in many situations with our grandparents where people look at us with curiosity as if they are trying to figure out how we all fit together. I wonder how much of the difference is a north/south thing. It still seems people are generally more accepting of diversity and interracial families in the north.
ReplyDeleteNot sure it makes a difference, unfortunately.
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