But video games when the deputies arrived, they pointed guns at the toes and held them in place.
Tammi Collins shared the video of Friday’s incident on Instagram. In the title, she says that her son was sitting with his friends at a bus stop waiting to go home.
Collins’ son and one of his friends are Black, both of whom are 16 years old. The other teen, 18 years old, is White, according to Collins’ lawyer, Robert Brown.
They were approached by a homeless man who asked them if they had any cocaine and then tried to take their belongings, Collins said her son told her.
The man soon became aggressive and apparently threw a knife at her, Collins said, telling what her son said. Two of the teens held out their skateboards to protect themselves, she added.
Seeing this, several bystanders apparently called police.
Collins’ video, which she said was recorded and given to her by another woman who witnessed the scene, has since been viewed more than 270,000 times.
It shows no one attacking the teens, but begins when at least three patrol units with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department arrive on the scene. Two deputies are seen pointing their guns at the toes and another officer joining them with a gun.
According to LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, “there were two calls coming in, almost simultaneously.”
“It was the other man!” one bystander can be heard on the video screaming at the deputies as she directs the teens to run backwards with their hands in the air. Each of the toes follows the commands and is eventually handcuffed and fixed.
“It does not matter to them because they are black!” says another person.
“I called you to tell you that there is a crazy man who is after these children,” another bystander might say. “And you do this?”
After a deputy asked one of the bystanders to explain what she saw, she says she called police who told the dispatcher that there was a Hispanic man who chased his toes with a knife.
In the video, the deputy says, “I’m pretty sure there’s someone with him now. Everyone is being held.”
Another deputy responded as well, saying, “This is similar to another call. We are on another call for service where one was hit with a skateboard. These three gentlemen were described in the call.”
Brown, the lawyer, told CNN that the three teens were kept in the squad car for about half an hour. After deputies questioned the teens and witnesses, they were released at no cost, he said. Deputy Trina Schrader of LA County Sheriff also confirmed that the toes were released.
Brown said he believes the man who attacked the teens ran away when he heard the police sirens. The homeless man has not yet been found, Villanueva said in the news conference.
Whether this was a misunderstanding, Collins said in her Instagram post that this “traumatic experience” would be something her son and his friends “will never forget.”
“The reaction was overboard and too aggressive,” Derrick Gray, the father of one of the other teens, told CNN affiliate KTLA.
When Gray was asked for comment, Gray directed CNN to Brown, saying he represented all three teens.
“This was a very innocent situation that was escalated by the deputies,” Brown said.
“If those young men had not kept their poise. Let’s say they ran to the officers to try to explain what had happened to them, or if they had called a mobile phone to call their parents, they could potentially have been hit or seriously injured or killed, “he added.
Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth said he was aware of Friday’s incident and was “very concerned.”
“We have spoken with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and we are aware that a full investigation is underway regarding the level of response by the deputies. We have requested that the review be expedited, and all necessary actions must be taken, “Smyth said in a statement.
Villanueva said at Wednesday’s news conference that he was “concerned about the tactics” and the “deployment of the AR-15 rifle”, noting that the deputy who detained the AR-15 had been removed from the field, pending the outcome of the investigation.
“Right now, we’re doing two things,” he said. “We are conducting an investigation into the incident itself … and we are also reviewing the policy on the deployment of the AR-15 to ensure that it is realistic and something that is supported by the actions on the ground that it use of that justifies any kind of weapon. “
Brown said he was concerned about whether race was an issue in the deputies’ handling of the incident, and he hopes the investigation will reveal more details.
CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji, Alex Meeks and Stella Chan contributed to this report.
.
