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13-Year-Old Handcuffed and Arrested for “Jaywalking” in Empty Tulsa Street

HeadlineJun 12, 2020

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, newly released bodycam footage shows two officers pressing a 13-year-old African American teenager face first against a curb and handcuffing him, after he allegedly jaywalked in a quiet street with no sidewalk on June 4.

Teenager: “Why are you arresting him? Why are you putting handcuffs on him?”

Police officer: “Because!”

Teenager: “Why are you putting handcuffs on my friend? He doesn’t have anything on him, sir.”

Police officer: “All he — all he was doing was jaywalking. We just want to talk with him.”

In the video, the teenager calls officers racist and says, “You want to see me in jail or dead.” Tulsa police say the incident is “under investigation.”

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