Pictures Of Pa.
Teen Taken After Shoplifting Arrest Raise Questions
A picture of a 14-year-old’s bruised face taken after a recent shoplifting arrest is raising questions as to whether officers brutally assaulted him or if he sustained the injuries from a bad fall while escaping from them, Philly.com reports.
Authorities
arrested Joseph Williams (pictured) for shoplifting at a Walmart in
Bucks County, Pa., last Tuesday. He managed to escape from custody while still
in handcuffs. During the arrest, one of the officers shot him with a stun gun;
one of the barbs struck the boy in the face.
Williams’
mother posted the picture of her son on Facebook Friday, believing he was a
victim of police brutality. ”The picture speaks 1,000 words. They brutally
beat him,” Marissa Sergeant said. She refuted claims the
bruises were caused by Williams falling face first.
The photo has
been shared more 53,000 times.
“If he did fall
on his face, why does he have scrapes and bruises all over his whole face,
everywhere. Why is his nose broken? Why is his nostril lifted off his face? Why
is both of his eyes black and swollen?”
“I’m left with
a child who’s going to be physically damaged for the rest of his life,” she
added. The boy says he is so embarrassed by his injured face that he covers it
up when he goes outside. “Everywhere I go, everyone is staring at me,” Williams
said.
Bucks County
DA David Heckler said he believes the officers acted
appropriately in this instance. ”He should have stopped when police told
him to,” Heckler said.
He also
explained how the face-first theory is plausible.
“You take off
running at a full clip and someone pulls your legs out from under you, and
you’re cuffed from behind, you’re going to break your fall with your face,” he
said. “I could well believe that you’d have fairly substantial bruising, cuts
and scrapes.”
Heclker shared
that there are eyewitnesses and police dash cam footage his office may look
through. When informed of Heckler’s explanation, Sergeant rebuked, ”That’s
impossible. Did he get up and fall 15 more times?”
She claims she
went to the Tullytown police station following her son’s arrest, but police
barred her from seeing him. He was treated at a local hospital and had to sign
off on his medical treatment and discharge before being sent to a
juvenile-detention center.
“They didn’t
want me to see him,” Sargeant said. “They wanted to hide him as long as they
could.”
Oba 1:10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment