Viral Video of Syracuse Police Officers Detaining Child for Allegedly Shoplifting Draws Widespread Criticism

The footage has been making the rounds on social media in recent days and shows multiple adult males detaining a young child in Syracuse, New York.

April 19, 2022

Content warning: This article contains footage and descriptions of police detaining a child.

Viral footage showing cops in Syracuse, New York detaining a child for (in their words) “stealing stuff” is drawing widespread criticism.

In the clip, which had been shared to Twitter and Reddit at the time of this writing, a child can be seen and heard crying while witnesses ask the officers what they’re doing. One child is seen grabbed by an officer and ultimately placed inside the back of a police vehicle.

“Guess,” one officer says in response to a witness’ questions. “Take a guess what I’m doing.” Once asked again, a different officer answers by accusing the child of “stealing stuff.” The person behind the camera then recalls to the officer what they saw when approaching the scene.

“Nah, man. What’d he stole, a bag of chips?” the witness, who also says they saw officers “snatching” the child off a bike, is heard saying in the clip. “So y’all treating him like a whole coldblooded fucking killer?”

The Syracuse Police Department later shared a statement claiming that officers’ actions and body camera footage are both being “reviewed” in response to the viral video.

“The juvenile suspected of larceny was not placed in handcuffs,” police claimed. “He was placed in the rear of a patrol unit where he was directly brought home. Officers met with the child’s father and no charges were filed.”

Additional information was not shared. Complex has also reached out to the office of Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh for comment and will update this post accordingly.

As the viral video continued being shared on social media, the ensuing criticism focused on a number of issues, including the inherent preposterousness of ever treating a child this way. Also of note here is the more generalized issue of police resources being unnecessarily put to use in instances of people (much less children) allegedly “stealing” mere necessities. See more below.