A Georgia mother is furious after police handcuffed her 11-year-old daughter as a suspect in attempted car theft and put her in the back of a patrol car, despite video evidence that her daughter never left the family home.
According to 11Alive, the incident began last Wednesday evening when DeKalb County Police rang Cynthia Hendricks’s doorbell and asked for her young daughter by name.
Officers told Hendricks that her daughter was suspected of attempting to steal a neighbor’s car just a few minutes before 7:15 p.m., with police describing the suspects as a 16-year-old girl and two teen boys. The neighbor gave officers her daughter’s name as a possible suspect, according to Hendricks.
However, Hendricks’s daughter had been inside that day since about 4 p.m. and had not been allowed to go outside. Hendricks also had footage from her Ring doorbell and motion cameras around her house as proof that her daughter never left her home.
However, about 20 minutes later, four officers and detectives showed up and handcuffed the young girl.
“[The officer] placed handcuffs on my daughter, placed her in back of police vehicle with intent to transport her to juvenile detention,” Hendricks told the news station.
Surveillance from the same Ring camera showed officers escorting the young girl to the patrol car in handcuffs.
It was only when officers asked Hendricks’s daughter her age that they realized their error, expressing surprise to find out she wasn’t 16.
“I am beyond livid and disgusted at DeKalb County Police for, one, not bothering to ask my daughter’s age before traumatizing her, two, blatantly ignoring the fact that our surveillance cameras show that London did not exit the house whatsoever, and, three, not doing their due diligence before coming to my home to attempt to arrest my child,” the furious mother said.
DeKalb County Police said that they were “not made aware of any concerns,” but a spokesperson said that the department would be looking into the incident.