Updated 10/27/2023 at 2:33 p.m. ET:
New day, same story. Police are still mistaking literal children for adult felons, or in this case teenage felons.
The latest example occurred two weeks ago, when Shanice Stewart, a pregnant Black woman, was driving her 8-year-old son Brandon to football practice late in the afternoon, according to KCRA. Then out of nowhere, Sacramento police officers pulled them over, asking her to throw her keys out of the window and exit the car slowly with her hands in the air.
KCRA reported that it wasn’t because Stewart made a lane violation or her tags were out of date. It’s because they thought that her 8-year-old son fit the description of a suspect who’s wanted on two felonies, one being gun possession.
Stewart described the incident in detail in a lengthy Facebook post:
They had mistaked my 8-year-old son as the suspect described (a drug dealer who was part of home invasions). As you hear him screaming for my safety letting officers know “My mom was just taking me to practice.” It has my son feared for his life to drive on the freeway as well as myself. I thought they were going to shoot him because the cop kept repeating “Your son fits the description and I know this is an unlikely situation but when getting in your car your son was described as the possible suspect”. Now mind you there were no officers in my complex to see nothing of that sort. You guys followed me from 12 Ave and treated me like an armed subject. You guys wasted tax dollars using a chopper and multiple officers to close the freeway down for me and my 8-year-old son. I’m unsure what to do but I was scared for my baby. I really want to see all their video cameras to see how dumb this looked to place fear in a child and a pregnant woman! Sac PD should be ashamed of themselves because that could have ended badly.
Using choppers to catch an 8-year-old boy is crazy. But inevitably, the Sacramento Police Department (SPD) had no choice but to apologize, telling NBC News that officers believed they saw the juvenile they were looking for get into a car with tinted windows.
They continued, “We must acknowledge that a case of mistaken identity occurred. Our officers provided an explanation and an apology to the mother and her son. Our department has been in contact with the mother since the incident. We recognize the impact that police interactions can have on our community members.”
But Stewart, who works as a hairstylist, wants more than just a formal apology. As she shared in her social post, she thinks the incident traumatized her son, and as a result, she wants the police department to pay for the therapy her son will need to deal with the situation, according to NBC News.
She’s also filed a complaint with Sacramento’s Internal Affairs Division despite the statement from the SPD.