The l. a. County sheriff says he's concerned about the tactics the deputies used. within the video, desperate bystanders are heard pleading with deputies to face down, defending the three Black teens at the opposite end of the officers' weapons.
"Put your guns down," one said. "They're kids."
Each of the teenagers obeyed deputies' commands to steer back toward them with their hands raised. They were handcuffed but eventually released.
Tammi Collins, whose son was one among the three boys held at gunpoint, said she started crying when she first saw the video.
"I felt my throat closing almost 'cause it had been so surreal that this was happening to him," she told CBS News correspondent Jamie Yuccas. "I was screaming because I wasn't there for my son, and that i knew he was afraid, but he followed everything that I had taught him to try to to if he ever came a situation like that."
The boys say they were waiting at a stop within the Santa Clarita Valley, when a homeless man tried to stab them. they assert they fended off the attack, using their skateboards as shields.
The l. a. County Sheriff's Department says deputies were responding to a report "that two male Black adults hit a victim with a skateboard," but that the victim couldn't be located. Witnesses at the scene corroborated the teens' story.
"I got on the phone and told you guys, there is a male Hispanic out here chasing these kids with a knife," a witness is heard saying within the video.
Derrick Gray, whose son was also one among the boys detained, said watching the video hurt his heart.
"To have him undergo that ordeal at the age of 16 is inconceivable," he said. "I could've possibly lost my son, my youngest son, because somebody called the police to guard him and rather than being protected, he was accosted, and this may stick with him for the remainder of his life."
Both families say they're exploring therapy for his or her sons. Santa Clarita's mayor has asked the department to expedite its review of the incident which "the deputy be faraway from the field" pending the investigation. It's unclear which deputy he's talking about.
News Source:CBS button
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