Three Teens Arrested for Waiting While Black

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A police officer arrested three teens last week as they were standing outside a store in downtown Rochester, New York. Their crime: Waiting for a school bus.

The three boys — Raliek Redd, 16, Deaquon Carelock, 16, and Wan'Tauhjs Weathers, 17 — are star athletes at Edison Tech high school, and were waiting to be taken to a basketball game when they were spotted by an officer.

It seems the store adjacent to their pick-up spot was being monitored by police due to past complaints from the owner of teens loitering outside.

The officer asked the teens to disperse, but they explained that they were waiting to be picked up by a bus. The officer again asked the teens to disperse.

"We tried to tell them that we were waiting for the bus," Wan'Tauhjs told WHEC. "We weren't catching a city bus, we were catching a yellow bus. He didn't care. He arrested us anyways."

The three were charged with with disorderly conduct and obstructing the sidewalk.

While they were being handcuffed, their coach, Jacob Scott, arrived at the scene and attempted to reason with the cop.

"He goes on to say, 'If you don't disperse, you're going to get booked as well," Scott recalled. "I said, 'Sir, I'm the adult. I'm their varsity basketball coach. How can you book me? What am I doing wrong? Matter of fact, what are these guys doing wrong?'"

A school board member has since come out in defense of the arrested teens, saying this is not a new phenomenon.

"I'm very concerned about a pattern of young people being abused by police authority," Rochester City School Board Member Mary Adams is quoted as saying. "To me, this seems like a really clear case, part of a pattern."

The boys were scheduled to enter their plea before a judge last Friday, but their hearing has been postponed until December 11.

This is ridiculous, cops in NY seem to be among the most racist in the US

 

[Dave McFly]

as a person that lives in NY and outside of Rochester this pisses me off very much

 

[Evelisse]

jeez, what a hot mess. Seems like something that could have been cleared up with a couple phone calls, it's either a valid bus stop for the kids or not, and if it's not and someone told them that was where they should be waiting to get on the school bus for the game, that should be easy to find out shouldn't it? Arrests had to be made? Unless something is missing from the story, the kids parents should push back as hard as the law allows them.

 

[KevanG]

Jeez. Kids today. Just loitering around bus stops waiting for the bus like it's a perfectly normal thing to do.

And to do it while Black nonetheless! Is nothing sacred?

 

[Warhammer]

I don't see why it was necessary to arrest and book them. What a waste of time and resources. That cop could have been doing something that was actually worth the tax payer's dollars. That's just so inefficient.

 

[KevanG]

People are idiots and that cop was just looking to throw some weight around like most NYC cops seem to want to do these days.

 

[NickNitro]

They wait for a bus and these 2 dudes got to stand around all day and no one said ****! What garbage

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Things must work differently in Jersey

 

[KevanG]

Nick, don't be foolish. They're doing drugs out in the open. They have nothing to hide. Those kids just waiting for the bus? They could be hiding anything! or nothing! It's Schrodinger's school bus.

 

[Pink Ranger]

They wait for a bus and these 2 dudes got to stand around all day and no one said ****! What garbage

I think in that case, the police are afraid of being drawn into a pointless, pretentious conversation about pop culture minutae.

 

[Tropico]

Apart from all the stuff we hear and read happening, there's nothing in the quote that makes me think that, this case in particular, was racial. There were past complaints by the owner of teens loitering.......other race teens aside from African-American not bothered by police? I can't tell from the quote.

 

[DarkSentinel]

This is why I ride a bike everywhere

 

[KevanG]

See? We should get DS arrested for making a get away from somewhere to somewhere else.

 

[chamber-music]

Three young black males together on a street which means they must be in a gang

I have no idea how you pronounce these three guys names.

 

[Pink Ranger]

This is why I ride a bike everywhere

They'll get you for that too. So far you can't drive, walk with candy, ring a doorbell after midnight, or stand completely still in a public space when you are African-American. Next, the police will move on to cycling, street-skiing and seguewaying.

 

[Teelie]

Happened in the NY? Who is surprised anymore?

 

[Teelie]

They'll get you for that too. So far you can't drive, walk with candy, ring a doorbell after midnight, or stand completely still in a public space when you are African-American. Next, the police will move on to cycling, street-skiing and seguewaying.

Given time breathing will be a crime.

 

[chamber-music]

The cops in Rochester must have plenty of free time, lots of tax payers money to burn and no crimes to solve.

This isn't even worth the paper work for the cops to arrest someone for around my way and the prosecution service would not see this as a case not worth perusing.

Now I see why America has the highest incarceration in the world if they lock people up for petty little things like this.

 

[charl_huntress]

Why do they have a bus stop outside the store and then complain about loitering? That's what people do at bus stops.

 

[Pythenis]

So other than the original poster implying that this was a racist article, where is the racism in the article?

It seems a store owner was complaining of kids loitering, a cop asked the kids to leave (black, white, pink, yellow, green etc.) the kids pleaded their case, the cop did not want to hear it or the coaches and arrested them? The cop made a bad call ultimately, but where is the "racism"? Seems like it's only in the OP's mind...

 

[DarkSentinel]

See? We should get DS arrested for making a get away from somewhere to somewhere else.

You should be arrested for gross misspelling!!

They'll get you for that too. So far you can't drive, walk with candy, ring a doorbell after midnight, or stand completely still in a public space when you are African-American. Next, the police will move on to cycling, street-skiing and seguewaying.

I guess that's the one good thing about South Florida then. Then again, white English-speaking people are practically the minority around here

Seriously, it's not racist if it's true.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Things must work differently in Jersey

Things do work different in NJ in the sense that they don't work at all.

 

[Thundercrack85]

This cop sounds more like Eric "Respect Ma Authoritah" Cartman to me. I mean, he might well be a racist, but he seems to be more on a power trip than a racist vendetta.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I guess that's the one good thing about South Florida then. Then again, white English-speaking people are practically the minority around here

Seriously, it's not racist if it's true.

Fair enough, ha ha, but remember that numbers =/= power. Look at South Africa. Then, but also now.

 

[Sundancer]

I find the wording for this thread's title more interesting