A Richmond police officer is being investigated after the mother of a middle school student posted a video to Facebook of the officer yelling at several students.
In the video, the officer, who is driving a marked SUV, can be heard yelling to the Albert Hill Middle School students: “Wait until your asses turn 18, then it’s mine.”
It’s unclear what precipitated the comment from the officer.
“Even if something was said, that was just a complete wrong reaction,” said Tenesha Calloway, a hairstylist, who posted the video on Facebook on Thursday, encouraging others to share the post and demanding an apology from the officer. As of Friday night, it had more than 11,000 views, 100 comments and 600 shares.
Calloway said the footage was filmed Thursday as her daughter and classmates were waiting to walk to an after-school program. The officer had driven past the group and turned around. Calloway said her daughter denied that the students said anything to provoke the officer.
There was an exchange between the children and the officer before he yelled at them.
“I am disgusted and disappointed, but not surprised that a white male officer would make a threat and use that tone or language towards a group of children,” she said in the video’s caption.
“My child and her friends have to walk to their after school program and knowing that the police are making idle threats to them is unsettling. I want to know who this officer is and I demand an apology and some form of reprimand to this officer.”
In a phone interview Friday, Calloway said she believed the comment was racist.
“These were all black and brown children,” she said. “As an adult, I know exactly what he meant by it. Most people just laughed it off because it happens all the time. That’s not the way I do things.”
She sent the video to the Richmond Police Department, which is investigating. Police have not released the officer’s name.
“We take these concerns very seriously,” a department spokeswoman said in an email. “The officer in the video is currently being investigated by our Internal Affairs Division. There are no further details at this time.”
In a statement, Mayor Levar Stoney called the officer’s behavior “unacceptable” but added that he trusts the department to “conduct a quick and thorough investigation and respond accordingly.”
“This type of behavior will not be tolerated by any employee of the City of Richmond,” the statement said. “This behavior is unacceptable. It reinforces stereotypes of our communities that are hurtful and damages the relationship between our police department and the citizens they are charged to serve.”
The Richmond branch of the NAACP also is investigating the incident, according to its president, James J. Minor.
Michelle Hudacsko, Richmond Public Schools chief of staff, said the officer has “absolutely no connection to RPS.” Calloway, the mother who posted the video, said the officer had been at the school for another incident.
“The officer’s behavior is outrageous and repugnant. Our students — and all citizens — deserve respect and dignity from law enforcement,” Richmond schools Superintendent Jason Kamras said in a statement. “I appreciate RPD’s swift action on this matter.”
Adeola Ogunkeyede, legal director of the Civil Rights & Racial Justice Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center, and a coalition partner of a group calling for more transparency and accountability at RPD, also condemned the officer’s actions.
“The threat of this officer portends future harm to these children at the hands of police that could prove fatal,” Ogunkeyede said. “Statements like these from members of the police department undermine the trust black children and their community will have in the police, perhaps forever. This proves that RPD’s alleged commitment to community policing is meaningless and that community oversight to ensure that commitment is necessary.”
