Watch: Black Boy Threatened, Manhandled By White Police Officer

A video which showed a child of African American descent being “tossed around” by a white police officer was posted on Twitter Sunday.

A Cobb County police officer was caught on video grabbing the arm of a black boy in a mall even after both the child and his aunt requested the officer to let him go. The video was posted on Twitter by an activist, Simar. The incident happened in front of an H&M shop in a mall in Cobb County, Georgia.

In the video, where the audio of the child is not clear, the police officer can be heard threatening the child.

“Listen, you’re 12, stop,” the officer said adding something about the child going to jail. “You’re going to a youth detention center, stop,” the officer continues. The aunt of the child can be heard talking on the phone to the boy’s father. “Chase, where are you, Chase, he’s got his hands on him,” she said.

“He’s not doing anything, he had his rights, he’s not even doing anything now sir,” she told the officer.

The boy can be seen talking about his rights and at one point asking the officer to leave his hand. The officer refuses to let go and then calls for backup.

Right after, the aunt tries to stop the officer from dragging the boy away, which resulted in the camera being jolted and out of focus. Throughout the confrontation, the aunt can be heard screaming, asking the officer to not touch her nephew while the officer warns her “you put your hands on me again … ."

“You put your hands on my m----------g nephew,” the aunt cries. But the officer calls for backup and toward the end of the video, another officer can be seen holding the boy.

The video quickly went viral, with social media users posting comments showing their disagreement with how the child was treated.

One user said “It’s not their [police officers] training that is lacking, it’s their character. They are perfectly capable of nonviolent de-escalation when they choose,” while another pointed out how even young children knew that the police were not their friends.

“Coming from the South Bronx. You know what’s really f’d up about this? In that young mind, he just learned that at least sometimes. The Police are not your friends. That kind of systemic, institutionalized lesson doesn’t just come from nowhere. And it doesn’t just disappear,” the person said.

Some said the whole thing was not about training but was about racism. A few opined the aunt should not have interfered with the cop. “You cannot interfere with a cop even if it is your nephew,” a user said.

“Ok I need more backstory was he shoplifting? If so I seen cops be way more forceful to shoplifters if he just grabbed him for no reason he needs to be fired,” one person said.

Other information regarding the incident, including details about the police officer or the reason why the boy was held back, are not clear. IBT Media has reached out to the Cobb County Sheriff’s office for clarification and further information regarding the incident.