Columbus PD: The video of an officer arresting two black boys with a BB gun serves as a "lesson"

The police department in Columbus, Ohio, Monday released a video showing one of their officers arresting two black boys with a BB gun and reprimanding them for what the ministry described as a "lesson learned."

Although the officer was commended for defusing a potentially dangerous situation, some wondered whether he would have used a different approach if the children were not black.

"This is causing the death of children all over the country," said officer Peter Casuccio to an 11-year-old after arresting him on Saturday. The Columbus Police Division released the sequence of the Bodyuccio Casuccio camera, making the faces blurry.

The officer tells the boys that he received a call regarding "two young black men" with a gun.

"In today's world, listen, that's right, my brother," Casuccio said after taking the 11-year-old girl's BB gun.

The boys respond to the officer with some "yes, gentlemen" and apologies.

"How old are you, my boy," Casuccio asks them. "Do you think I want to shoot an 11-year-old child? Do you think I want to film a 13-year-old?", He said after their answer.

"I'm proud to be a very bad hombre because I have to be in. Do not make me," Casuccio adds.

Later in the video, Casuccio addresses the 11-year-old mother and her mother, explaining that when he approached the boys, the youngest man withdrew the pistol BB of his belt, and then dropped it.

"He could have shot you for that, do you know?" the mother asks her son.

"Your life has not even started yet and it could have ended, because I would not have missed it," Casuccio repeats. "I want you to think about it tonight when you lie down, you could be gone."

"A lesson has been learned," said the Columbus Police Division in a post with the video on Facebook.

Some said that the intention of the officer to make the meeting a classroom conducive to learning was good, but that he could have addressed the boys differently. .

"I am pleased to see that the officer has taken the time to accurately assess the situation, to try to talk to children about the world we live in today and not to use deadly force. "said Danyelle Solomon, senior director of the Center on Race and Ethnicity. for American progress. "It's a sad day for which I'm glad an officer did not shoot an 11-year-old or a 13-year-old," she added.

Nevertheless, Solomon said the situation could have been "treated differently", claiming that the officer could have taken the boys home to talk to them instead of doing it with a guardrail on the side of the road.

She also stated that some of Casuccio's "frightened" and "racially coded" languages ​​- such as "boy" and "hombre" – were useless.

"His language was sometimes a bit debatable," said Ronnie A. Dunn, head of diversity and inclusion at Cleveland State University.

"The question is whether the situation would have been perceived in the same way and if the children were white, the conversation would have been different," said Dunn, a specialist in racial profiling and inequality, criminal justice and issues are facing children and families in urban areas. .

But "at the end of the day, the officer used proper restraint and de-escalation techniques to disarm subjects, investigate and resolve, without the use of lethal force, a situation that could have ended tragically for the young person." Tamir Rice case, "said Dunn.

Tamir Rice, 12, was playing with an Airsoft gun outside Cleveland, Ohio, when he was shot by a police officer.

"No matter what people say about guys wearing this uniform, we care about it – we care about it legitimately," Casuccio told the 11-year-old.

Willie Williams, president of Region 3 of the National Black Police Association, said he thought Casuccio was managing the situation "very well."

"He explained to them that he could have used lethal force, but he did not do it because they listened and also because he does not want to shoot people, let alone an 11 year old and 13 year old, "Williams said.

CORRECTION (October 16, 2018, 5:05 pm): An earlier version of this article inaccurately indicated where Ronnie A. Dunn was working. He is the principal responsible for diversity and inclusion at Cleveland State University, not at the University of Cleveland.