The police chief in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said hearing the screams and cries of an 11-year-old girl as an officer handcuffed her at gunpoint made him "physically nauseous" as the department reviewed the incident that took place last week.
The girl, Honestie Hodges, was heading out the backdoor of her home when police, who were looking for a murder suspect, took her into custody. In the video, Hodges follows orders to walk backward with her hands in the air as her mother, Whitney, yells that her daughter is only 11. Honestie begins to scream as officers place her in handcuffs, and the cops respond by telling her to stop screaming.
"It made me feel scared, and it made me feel like I did something wrong," Honestie Hodges told station Wood TV8 in Grand Rapids.
Police officers were searching for the girl's aunt, Carrie Manning, a 40-year-old white woman, who allegedly stabbed her younger sister at another home.
"As officers were setting up a perimeter, three females simultaneously exited the home, two adults and one 11-year-old juvenile," police said in a statement. "Until it could be determined that the individuals were not the suspect, nor armed with a weapon, the three were ordered back to officers and detained."
So the Grand Rapids, Michigan, police officers were searching for a 40-year-old white woman wanted in a stabbing but end up handcuffing 11-Year-Old girl Honestie Hodges at Gunpoint as she walked out of her home? Being Black will forever be criminalized. https://t.co/citoNfrH2a
— Ronnie (@ronniesidneyii) December 13, 2017
Police launched an investigation into Honestie's detainment after a complaint was filed on her behalf.
Her mother still wonders why police felt the need to cuff her. "I'm afraid to open or go near my backdoor," she said, "because of what happened."
Chief David Rahinsky told Wood TV8 that he was sickened by the body camera footage and that it was inappropriate to treat an 11-year-old like an adult.
"The screams of the 11-year-old, they go to your heart," he said after seeing the video. "You hear the mother yelling from the steps, 'That's my child!' That's our community's child. That's someone who lives in Grand Rapids. That's someone who should feel safe running to an officer."
The department has previously been criticized for its treatment of black children. In April, five black children between the ages of 12 and 14 were stopped by police at gunpoint on their way home after playing a game of basketball.
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