They said it was to teach him a lesson.

On Halloween, two Staten Island, NY cops said they saw Rayshawn Moreno throwing eggs at a car. So, rather than than taking him home to his parents for discipline or taking him to a police precinct to have him picked up by parents, Officers Thomas Elliassen and Richard Danese had a different punishment in mind. They took 14-year-old Rayshawn to a swampy area in a nearby city, made him strip down to his underwear and socks and left him.

Fortunately, Rayshawn made it home safely after walking to a nearby store and having a security guard call his parents.

Now, Rayshawn’s parents want more substantial charges for the cops involved. Telisa and James Hezel say the charges of unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child, both punishable by up to a year in jail, are not enough. They are calling on the district attorney to also charge the cops with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, assault and endangering the welfare of a child. They also want the D.A. to determine if there are grounds to try to cops on hate crimes charges, as well.

The latter caused me to raise an eyebrow but, I had to ask myself if the cops felt comfortable doing this to a 14-year-old boy only because he was black.

The truth is that anything could have happened to Rayshawn and his parents would not have known until it was too late. Furthermore, cops are expected to enforce the law and the law clearly does not allow for dropping a child off in another town, forcing him to strip and leaving him in a potentially dangerous situation. So, I hope that they get the book thrown at them but, given that cops get slaps on the wrist for killing unarmed black citizens, I don’t hold out a lot of hope for justice on this one.

Popularity: 48% [?]