Maplewood police release video after handcuffing children including boy, 10

Maplewood police on Wednesday released body camera video showing officers handcuffing four children between the ages of 10 and 16 while they were investigating a call about gunshots.

Police said a 911 caller reported hearing shots Monday evening close to their business on Cope Ave. near Highway 36 and White Bear Avenue, and saw four people on security video. 

Investigators released that footage earlier this week. The recording starts at 9:26 p.m. On it, four people are seen walking away from the camera into a field. As they head out of the frame, three gunshots are heard several seconds apart, but it’s not clear if those shots came from anyone in the group. 

On the 46 minute body camera video, Officer Ben Geiselhart encounters a boy and a girl at a gas station about two blocks from the business and tells them that he’s investigating gunfire. Soon, two younger children rejoin the group after initially running away.

Another Maplewood officer questions the kids, who insist they were just walking home from McDonald’s. Police blurred the children’s’ faces before releasing the video, but the clothing they’re wearing is partly visible and appears to be different from what the four people in the security video are wearing.

“Everybody is getting detained because there was video of shots being fired,” Geiselhart said 23 minutes into the clip. “We’re going to figure out who shot it, where the gun is. There’s video of you guys shooting a gun.”

Officers then handcuff all four of the children behind their backs and seat them in squad cars. Those detained include a 10-year-old boy, a boy and a girl, both 12, and a 16-year-old boy.

About six minutes after being handcuffed, the teen asks to call his mother. Geiselhart dials the number from his phone and sets it on the boy’s lap.

Soon the teen’s mother, Toshira Garraway, arrives at the gas station along with another parent, and both demand that police release their children.

About 20 minutes after handcuffing the children, police said they released the four after determining that they were not the same people seen on the business surveillance footage.

Garraway, a racial justice activist and founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, said at a news conference on Wednesday that Maplewood police should apologize.

“I just feel in my heart that there was another way they could have handled the situation. I don’t know if race was involved, but it raises serious questions about how this would have went down if these were white children,” Garraway said. 

Three of the children detained are Black, including Garraway’s son, and one is Latino. 

Minneapolis civil rights attorney Jeff Storms indicated that the families are considering a lawsuit against the city of Maplewood. Storms said the city needs to make changes to its policy on encounters with minors.

“Certainly we need to address handcuffing and other policies for children this young, and that’ll be something we’ll be addressing further with the city.”

At an earlier news conference Tuesday, Maplewood Police Lt. Joe Steiner said the officers followed their training and department policy.

“Our officers acted very professionally and exactly how we would expect them to act,” Steiner said. “We’re proud of their response and their work on this incident.” 

In a statement Wednesday, police said they recovered a spent shell casing from where the shots were reported, and investigators are continuing to look at additional surveillance video from the area.

The Maplewood Police Department policy manual says a juvenile under 12 “should not be restrained unless he/she is suspected of a dangerous felony or when the officer has a reasonable suspicion that the juvenile may resist, attempt escape, injure him/herself, injure the officer, or damage property.”

On the body camera video, the children can be heard occasionally arguing with the officers, but at no point are they seen physically resisting them. No officers are heard yelling at the children, nor are police seen using any force beyond handcuffs.

University of Pittsburgh law professor and use-of-force expert David Harris said police officers should take special care when questioning minors, particularly young children.

“A 10-year-old is not a 12-year-old, and neither of them is a 16-year-old, and none of them are adults,” Harris said. “We know that any of them can get in trouble or cause trouble, but we know that they’re not in a position to react correctly or well or with understanding when dealing with an authority figure like a police officer.”

Harris also said if officers need to detain children, they should contact their parents immediately and ensure that “kids are treated as kids.”

“Putting a child like that in a police car in restraints just has to be traumatic. You should not do that without a darn good reason.”