A 16-year-old boy was arrested on Friday. His mom hasn't heard from him since.
The attorney general has opened an investigation into police officers who punched a suspect on film.
Officers from the New Castle County Police Department in Delaware pinned Roger Brown, 16, down in the driveway of his home, punching him several times because they suspected he was dealing drugs based on a suspect description, reported Delaware Online. Roger’s friend Jaiden filmed two officers pummeling the boy, and a third cop telling bystanders to leave. Roger was later transported to a hospital by ambulance.
Roger’s mom Mary Fleming told Delaware Online that the boys were looking at Jaiden’s new dirt bike around 5 p.m. in her driveway when officers responded to a possible noise complaint. Fleming said officers told Roger to “Get off the bike,” so he tried to park it and they “swarmed on him.”
Fleming said she possesses another video that shows the cops stopping “immediately” when they saw someone recording. And that Roger’s grandmother tried to stop the officers but one told her to go inside the house.
The mom has not seen Roger since he was arrested. “It’s horrible, I’m so scared. I want to talk to my son,” she told Delaware Online.
A news release by the New Castle County Police Department read that officers smelled marijuana on Roger and a “struggle ensued” when they tried to arrest him. Police found “numerous” bags of marijuana, a scale, prescription pills and more than $1,000 “in suspected drug proceeds” during a search. Roger was charged with resisting arrest and a number of drug-related charges.
“I am fully aware of the video that has surfaced on Saturday evening,” Police Chief Vaughn Bond told Delaware Online. “We are committed to completing a thorough and comprehensive investigation into this situation.” State Attorney General Kathy Jennings said The Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust is doing its own research.
The Attorney General’s Office, a police spokesperson and Brown family attorney Chris Johnson didn’t respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s interview requests.
On Monday, Johnson told reporters, according to Delaware Online, “This has been a very traumatic weekend for the whole family…all we know is that [Mary’s] 16-year-old son was attacked during an arrest. He was punched and so, I’m asking for an investigation right now from the state attorney general Kathy Jennings into exactly what happened. Because we believe it was unreasonable and excessive force was used to apprehend Roger.”
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