Akil Carter, a black teenager, was handcuffed by police officers in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin as he was riding in a vehicle with his white grandmother, Paulette Barr, who was going to drop him off to work.
Joy Bertrand, an attorney, hired by Akil’s grandmother, revealed that the incident took place on Sunday while they were driving home from church.
Footage from dashcam showed a police officer walking to the blue Lexus in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.
The cop explained to the two women in the car that they received a 911 call from two people who claimed to have seen a robbery.
When the authorities arrived on the scene, the couple said: “There is a black young man was robbing two elderly white ladies in a blue Lexus,” and they pointed out the car.
The 18-year-old was asked to step out the vehicle, place in handcuffs, and escorted to a police car where he was quizzed for about six minutes.
During the interrogation, the young man was asked his name, date of birth, and address.
He was posed several questions about his family including parents and the grandmother who was in the car with him.
Akil appeared stressed out as
Talking to local media, officers explained that they had removed their guns from their holsters because of the violent nature of the crime.
The police also confirmed to reporters that the couple claimed a robbery had taken place.
At the same time, another police officer was able to get additional information from the granny and her friend.
The teen’s grandmother could be heard explaining that Akil is indeed her grandson and they were just in church.
The woman explained: “We are on our way back home from church to my house.”
The officer offered his apology for the shocking misunderstanding.
He said: “I apologize for that guy not knowing what he was talking about.”
The grandmother responded by: “I’m sure he saw two old, white ladies in a car with a black kid and he made some assumptions.”
The police officer went on to reveal the 911 caller “was black as well.”
The teenager’s grandmother was baffled by the news, prompting her to scream: “Oh my god. Then it’s even worse.”
Upon learning the truth, the teen was released, and he walked back to the car.
One person angrily reacted to the news story by saying: “Nobody black reported him. The lies they tell.”
Another, commenter, who had questions about the fact that the race of the caller was released, said: “They usually don’t specify the race of the ppl who give tips. No African Americans called the police. They are lying. White people called the police. Can a law be created for idiots that are like this.”
“They need to press charges against the people who made this false claim. Guaranteed it was not anyone of African American decent.. their just doing this to cover their tracks. SMH,” said this person who is fed up with all these bogus 911 calls that are forcing police to waste time, energy, and human resources.
