MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — The Maplewood Police Department has released body-worn camera footage pertaining to an incident in which four children were detained following reports of shots fired on April 11.
Video shared on social media initially claimed the children, who police said range in age from 10 to 16 years old, were held for several hours after officers heard gunfire in the area.
Police held a press conference around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, stating those claims were inaccurate, but acknowledged the children were detained for a total of 40 minutes, with 20 minutes in handcuffs.
Maplewood PD's Lt. Joe Steiner said police received a complaint around 9:30 p.m. Monday from a business owner who reported seeing four juveniles outside their business and hearing gunshots. When officers arrived, they encountered four children.
He added that officers believed through their initial investigation there was probable cause to detain the children. Steiner said after further investigation, which included viewing surveillance video, officers determined the kids did not have any part in the shooting and were released.
Newly released body camera footage shows the interaction between the four children and Maplewood officers, leading up to the detainment. The children can be heard denying the allegations against them numerous times before officers put handcuffs on them, while stating that nearby video surveillance captured the sound of gunfire.
Several minutes after the children are detained, the video shows one of the officers performing a pat-down search on one of them. That child asks the officer what was captured on the video of the incident. The officer says the department has video of the four of them and a gunshot being heard. The officer then says that their partners were reviewing the video to see what happened. The child then asks to call his mother, at which point the officer uses his phone to call the child's mother on speakerphone.
Just before the officer dialed, one of the children asked why they were placed in handcuffs. An officer then explains handcuffs were being used because they were being detained for a weapons violation.
Shortly after, footage shows officers speaking with one of the parents of the children. A second parent arrives a short time later.
Footage later shows officers removing the children's handcuffs approximately 20 minutes after they were put on.
"I think that the officers handled the situation very well. They were very respectful of the juveniles and they just really wanted to ask them questions," said Mylan Masson, a retired police trainer and former director of the law enforcement program at Hennepin Technical College.
After reviewing the footage, Masson said she believes officers had probable cause to detain the kids — something an attorney for the family disputes.
"Minors are treated pretty much the same as an adult in the sense of the law. We have the right to stop, we have the right to search, anything of that nature," Masson said.
Greg Egan, Ramsey County assistant public defender, does not agree that police had enough initial information to detain the kids.
After the initial questioning, Egan said, "It should have stopped with that. When there's no information to give, when there was no reason to believe that they were involved, it should've stopped. Do the officers have the right to pursue an investigation, to ask questions, to ask for their names? They do. But it should only go so far and to the extent that it's relevant, they can and should."
Egan added, "If we're going to have any kind of reckoning with policing, with racial justice, I think that needs to start with the very candid acknowledgement that the police officers here made a mistake."
Steiner said he believed the Maplewood officers acted professionally and appropriately, and that the seriousness of the crime and gunfire in a residential neighborhood factored into the decision to detain the kids.
Following the incident, police said they spoke with the children's families to review what happened.
As KARE 11's Charmaine Nero reported, the detention sparked outrage among loved ones, including Cokeila Taylor, who said she saw her 12-year-old daughter sitting in the back of a squad car.
"I get there and my baby is screaming and crying in the back," she said.
Another mother, Toshira Garroway, described the moment she arrived to pick up her child. "They have no idea what it's like to get a call like that from my son saying, 'Mom, they have me in the back of a police car in handcuffs,'" she said.
Attorney Jeff Storms - who along with Ben Crump is representing the families of the detained children - held a press conference around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday alongside supporters and loved ones.
"That detention was unreasonable, we believe it was unlawful, and tantamount to a formal arrest of these young children," Storms said. He later added, "Far less force could have been used to get to the bottom of what happened."
Storms said he and several others have seen surveillance video and some of the body camera footage.
"This should not have happened, and the response should have been an acknowledgement of that fact, an apology, and a serious discussion about how law enforcement can earn the trust of children in this community," Storms said of the police characterization of their conduct.
At one point in the press conference, one of the children detained by police was allowed to briefly speak on their experience, saying they were scared, shaking, and confused when police approached.
"I was just thinking, like, what was going to happen?" the child said.
Maplewood PD is still working to locate the people ultimately responsible for firing off the shots.