Police tackled a 13-year-old boy they somehow mistook for a tatted-up 22-year-old suspect at a deli in New Jersey on Friday, sparking an internal investigation as the teen’s family demands accountability.
Alkyair Williams, 13, popped inside Jenny Deli and Grocery in East Orange on Friday afternoon — and was jumped by six officers while purchasing a T-shirt, according to harrowing surveillance footage obtained by WABC.
The teen was facing the exit when the first officer stormed inside and pinned him against a stack of boxes. Five other officers rushed inside seconds later and dogpiled on top of Alkyair once he was knocked to the ground, according to the video.
Two other officers kept Alkyair’s mother, Amirah Williams, outside of the deli. When they finally allowed her to enter, the battered teen was standing near the counter, his hands cuffed behind his back.
Amirah told the outlet that the officers never explained what was happening to Alkyair.
“I’m trying to see why y’all got my son right here? He said, mistaken identity. I said mistaken identity for who? For who? He said, a 22-year-old with dreads and visible tattoos. I said look at my son, do he look like he 22? Do he have visible tattoos? He don’t even have dreads,” Amirah recounted.
The officers did not identify their names or badge numbers and “drove off like nothing ever happened,” Amirah said.
“I just want them to take accountability. I want apologies,” she said.
Alkyair said that he “got PTSD” from the whirlwind encounter.
“I don’t want to go outside no more. Me, me, I’m a normal kid that just go outside, that want to hang with their friends. No, that ain’t me no more. I don’t want to go to school no more,” he told the outlet.
The Newark Police Division’s Office of Professional Standards launched an internal investigation after the chaotic arrest.
The East Orange Office of Public Information confirmed that the East Orange Police were not involved in the incident.
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