Mom furious after cops draw guns on 8-year-old

The kid looks big for 8, and he's bald. From a distance they see him high tailing it out of there what are they supposed to think? He had no parental supervision at the time that could have stepped up and told the police "Hey, that's my kid".

cherie hardin wrote:

Bunch of bullcrap. how are you going to mistake an 8yr old, with a 42yr old man. all they seen was black and thats all they needed.

after what happened to that grand rapids officer last summer we are lucky to have police willing to do this god forsaken job, its easy for people to judge who are not in the situation where you could loose their life in a second, when these people start following orders this type of stuff will stop...

I think some of you people are being a little harsh on the 8-year-old. You have no real idea what the situation was. He witnessed something no child should witness, was most likely already wound up from that experience, then some adult hollers at him to freeze.

Any of you that are being critical of the child running, have you ever been in a situation where you were scared? I'm sure that the officer commanding him to freeze did not do it in a friendly manner.

The boy might have simply panicked. Even 100% innocent people can panic. Unless you've been in a situation where you were startled or scared, you really cannot say how you would react.

This is a child you're talking about. I can't honestly say that my younger children wouldn't have ran even though they are taught from toddler age that police officers are heroes to be trusted and respected.

Now... do I think the officers were in the wrong? No. A 5' eight year old is pretty big! My daughter is almost 12 years old and just barely over 5' and my almost 10 year old son isn't even 5' yet.

They didn't hurt the boy... and he did run. I think they were only doing their job. I also agree that they did not have the time to walk the child home for an explanation.

I don't even know where to start...

kjw wrote:

They should of shot the 8 year old and prevented a dozen B&E's down the road......hope mom hid her crack when the cops came to get her side of the story. And the cops should of said "sorry"? ha, none of those porch monkeys say "sorry" for all the trouble they cause the police.

I'm not surprised that a young child acted this way - he got scared when the guns were drawn and ran. Could you honestly say that your young children would never do this, even if they had been taught to obey authority?

Wingnut wrote:

<quoted text>
And the fact he was told to "FREEZE" and prceeded to take off running means nothing. If anything this kid probably allowed the perp to get away by wasting the officers time. Get off the "All they seen was black S**t, I am really sick of hearing people play the race card for everything.

I don't blame the cops. Those people all look the same.

TommyO wrote:

Just how was he raised that the sight of a police officer means "run" at age 8? When I see a cop, fireman, or really just about anyone who says "hey you - stop right there" I tend to stay there and see what they want. But then, I may have been raised by a mom AND a dad who both believed that the law was there to protect the innocent.

Well said! It was probably his older brothers and or father, or "uncle" of the week that taught him "when you see the po po run for your life, and ditch the gun and/or drugs that you're hidin"

You're forgetting this wasn't a polite run in with the police - I assume it was the guns drawn that made him run. But I got to admit - it sure is cute the way you make the slight of hand, derogatory remark about the single parent household this child is in.

TommyO wrote:

Just how was he raised that the sight of a police officer means "run" at age 8? When I see a cop, fireman, or really just about anyone who says "hey you - stop right there" I tend to stay there and see what they want. But then, I may have been raised by a mom AND a dad who both believed that the law was there to protect the innocent.

Blessed be the peace makers!!!!!!!!!!

Hole-ly crap I thought the red necks out hear are a little on the abrasive side, but kjw has got an attitude. You got to live in a bad neighborhood to have a burr that size under your saddle. How about you come on out for some ribs and watermelon? The only problems we have is when the neighbors cows get out.

Here is why the boy ran, his mom is an outright criminal

Check out her charges on grcourt.org

https://www.grcourt.org/CourtPayments/recSear...

Oh and she tell us she just got out of prison last month for Home Invasion

http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile....

And if you check her name there are about 13 civil cases.....The police need to take that child from that wackadoo.

Can you imagine being a cop going over to visit this kindly lady and her son.....

Maybe the woman on fire will raise him? She sounds like a stable person.

Woman_on_fire...it is ignorant, stupid uneducated morons like you that feed into the stereotypical ebonics ignorance! You typed this on a computer...does it have spell check, or couldn't you afford that option!? Your in America...learn English! "You people" are the reason why racism is still so alive in this country today! How about this...go get your GED, get off welfare and get a job and then maybe you will be able to leave comments that don't make you sound like a "Redneck" moron that you talk about!

when will the police be held accountable for their
action. in this incident, and others that happened
today. obviously never

I am white, but if I was black and given the history of the GRPD and the hostile crap I am reading in these comments I would have ran my tail off!! I have many great black friends who get hassled in Grand Rapids often and they have a lot more class than the cops who treat them as a race rather than a person.

Wait...you mean to tell me that you actually looked up all her cases?! And provided links?!

Robentcorp wrote:

Here is why the boy ran, his mom is an outright criminal
Check out her charges on grcourt.org
https://www.grcourt.org/CourtPayments/recSear...
Oh and she tell us she just got out of prison last month for Home Invasion
http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile....
And if you check her name there are about 13 civil cases.....The police need to take that child from that wackadoo.

Don't forget about who we're talking about and that's Ivan Hawkins the 8 year old who got a gun thrown to his head for being somewhere at the wrong time... All this comments about what the mother is doing remembered what all takes plac e then write about it.

"Your in America...learn English!"
Maybe you should consider the same English class that you recommended to Woman_on_fire. Or should we assume it was a typo?

Mark Fuhrman wrote:

Woman_on_fire...it is ignorant, stupid uneducated morons like you that feed into the stereotypical ebonics ignorance! You typed this on a computer...does it have spell check, or couldn't you afford that option!? Your in America...learn English! "You people" are the reason why racism is still so alive in this country today! How about this...go get your GED, get off welfare and get a job and then maybe you will be able to leave comments that don't make you sound like a "Redneck" moron that you talk about!

most new age cops love to shoot people these days