Black Teen Pepper-Sprayed By Cops After Entering His White Foster Parents’ Home

[kpete]

POLICE PEPPER SPRAY WAKE COUNTY TEEN INSIDE HIS HOME AFTER HE'S MISTAKEN FOR BURGLAR

..................

Eighteen-year-old DeShawn Currie was walking into his foster parents’ unlocked side door after school Monday afternoon, when a neighbor called 911 to report what they perceived to be a burglary on the residential block in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. When cops arrived, they walked inside the house and ordered Currie to put his hands up, as Currie, confused, questioned what he had done wrong. Cops responded by pointing to a picture on the wall that showed several white children together, implying that Currie, black, did not belong.

By the time Currie’s foster mother Stacy Tyler came home, EMTs were treating Currie in the driveway for having been pepper sprayed in the face by the officers, WTVD reports. Police said in a statement they pepper-sprayed Currie because he would not follow orders.

Stacy and Ricky Tyler had been fostering Currie for about a year, and have done all they can to show Currie that he is just as much a member of their family as the other three children.

“Everything that we’ve worked so hard for in the past years was stripped away yesterday in just a matter of moments,” Ricky Tyler told WTVD. Currie said he wasn’t sure if he would be able to move past the incident.




VIDEO & MORE:
http://abc11.com/340724/
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/10/08/3577327/black-teen-pepper-sprayed-by-cops-for-entering-his-white-foster-parents-home/

[snooper2]

1. lawsuits need to start getting paid out of police budgets

That is the only way to keep fuckers in line-

Oh look, you don't even have money to put gas in your cars, you better keep your shit straight!

[FlatStanley]

34. They need to be paid out of the cops' pockets.

[gopiscrap]

52. Exactly!

[Jackpine Radical]

86. Exactly the thought I had.

Garnish their Goddam wages & don't allow them to discharge the debt through bankruptcy.

[billhicks76]

74. Awesome Idea

Start Lobbying

[Trillo]

2. Even when the police are wrong, they rationalize,

they are always "right".

I hope Currie can figure out how to get over the incident, maybe he can get some counseling at the cops expense. If he can't, then it's just another lifetime punishment.

[MohRokTah]

4. You didn't watch the interview, did you?

I can tell you didn't, otherwise you would not have embarrassed yourself with the assumptions you made.

[kpete]

5. thanks MohRokTah

assumptions are NOT truths....and are almost never accurate

peace to us ALL,
kp

[MohRokTah]

7. Yeah, the kid doesn't like having his picture taken, and his foster parents respected that.

You can tell the love in that Foster family and how good it is for the kid, though.

My guess is the neighbor had seen the id before, but had not seen the kid entering when nobody was home. That's just a guess, though.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

45. Like how you embarrassed yourself:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5631852

and...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5631891

?

[politicat]

51. No, because I have JavaScript disabled. No video. (That's iOS's workaround to Adblock.)

Are you telling me they showed pictures that the cops ignored? Not surprised in the least that cops couldn't see around their colons to get appropriate information.

A quarter of my client load was juvenile; more than half in foster care. I've seen far too many foster providers act like they'd taken on a roommate, and a not particularly welcome one.

I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion in this specific case.

Still think the neighbor is a jerk, though. And those cops have transcended asshole.

[justgamma]

6. Or it could be the neighbor

knew what he was doing and just didn't like "that" kind living next door? We don't know why he called.

[FlatStanley]

39. This!

[Mariana]

56. I think some people don't believe that really goes on.

I'm related to people who have done exactly that - called the cops and pretended they saw something "suspicious" just to see the cops come out and hassle the black or brown person. I don't think my relatives would do it to a resident, but a stranger walking through the neighborhood, or sitting in his parked car is fair game to them.

I guess there's no way to know if that's what happened here.

[azurnoir]

64. ^^^^^this^^^^^ my thought exactly

I find it unlikely the neighbor not know he lived there

[lunasun]

83. +1 Exactly- hoping they shoot first no doubt Victim lived there for a year!! Get real

[GGJohn]

8. So it's the parents fault?

Not the racist cops?

[noiretextatique]

9. he lived with them for a year...and the neighbors never SAW him?

that 911 caller just saw black, not the kid who has been living there for a year. and the cops were totally out-of-line. since he is a minor, they could have simply called the parents. the real story here is that the idiot cops used excessive force on a black male...again. i hope people are grasping that these are not "isolated incidents" committed by "a few bad apples." clearly this is policy for too many police departments (if not all) in this country.

[Ms. Toad]

22. You are making assumptions that the family was in the neighborhood for a year.

They weren't, as the links make clear.

[noiretextatique]

89. oh sorry...they said they had him for a year

so, i did assume they lived there for a year. not that it would have mattered...

[AtheistCrusader]

13. Yeah, blame the victim and his parents. Good job.

Did you ACTUALLY click through to the article and read it? Or you just winging it?

[berni_mccoy]

17. I had a neighbor once...

I spent a lot of time outside with my kids...
They saw us building a fire pit over the summer...
I did not need a permit to use the fire-pit (by law)...
The first night we used the fire-pit, the neighbor called the police and fire dept. Police came onto my yard to investigate. Saw i was not doing anything wrong. I asked if I was, he said no. He asked if I had a permit to do a fire. I said I don't need one it's in a fire-pit. He said I was right, but having a permit would prevent them from responding to a call from the neighbor. I said maybe the neighbor should be called out for not coming over to see what I was doing. The neighbor knew I had a fire pit and knew I was using it, could see it from their house. How is this my fault? The officer said it wasn't. The fire dept gave me a permit on the spot so they wouldn't respond to such a call again.

Neighbors can be assholes. Period.

[jwirr]

18. One of the foster parents in our family has a wall of pictures of ALL the foster children she has

taken care of. And you are right. It would have helped to expose him to others in the neighborhood.

[Ms. Toad]

24. Would you say the same thing about their white children,

if one of their white children had been pepper sprayed within the home (that they should have exposed him to others in the neighborhood)?

(As to the pictures, his picture was not included per his request, and the family had only lived in the neighborhood since July - not a year.)

[jwirr]

32. That makes a difference. The time line. I do not understand what you mean regarding the color of

the children being pepper strayed. I said All the children she had cared for and did not mention any color.

[Ms. Toad]

60. The only thing you said about this family

is, "It would have helped to expose him to others in the neighborhood." "All the children" in your statement referred to "one of the foster parents in your family."

Had one of this family's white children been pepper sprayed in their home (not that that would happen), would your reaction have been to suggest that it would have helped (prevent the incident) if the parents had exposed their white child to the neighbors?

The more common reaction would have been to chastise the neighbors for calling the police, and the police for overreacting.

[jwirr]

62. I do not know what my reaction would be. But if you are calling me racist - you could not be more

wrong. My entire family except me is made up of minority members. That is children, grand children, great grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

[Ms. Toad]

80. I'm saying that reacting to pretty extreme police brutality

perpetrated against a young man in his own home with the suggestion that his parents ought to have introduced him to the neighbors is odd.

I can't imagine anyone reacting that way had the police perpetrated the same acts perpetrated against a white foster child in that manner - yet it is a very prevalent reaction in this thread. You were one of many who reacted this way. I'm suggesting that you (and anyone else who reacted that way) stop and consider why - and honestly reflect on whether you would have reacted that way had the child been white.

Some of my best friends/family/etc. are {XYZ} doesn't provide immunity against reacting from a position of privilege our skin/gender/sexual orientation/etc. gives us. And recognizing that reaction is one of the early steps to changing it.

[politicat]

53. Your relative is an exception. You got good people in her.

I wish more were like her.

[jwirr]

55. Thank you. The kids also come back to visit with her. I think we are doing better with finding good

foster parents now that we used to. The social services do not like families who are in it only for the money anymore. Not that the money is not important. Children used to come out of a foster home with nothing to their name than the clothes on their back.

[noamnety]

88. It would never occur to me, as a parent,

that I have a moral obligation of any sort to "expose" my daughter to my neighbors so that the police don't pepper spray her in our own home.

[Farmbrook]

25. How many white family are require to do all the regiments you listed??

Yet black kids have a set of regiments set by white people to go through. This family is not required to do anything other than love this child. End of story. The police have to change their mind set. Not every black person is a criminal.

[riqster]

27. "The boy"? Seriously?

"boy"? Christ on a cruiser. In 2014, on DU.

"boy".

[JimDandy]

38. Apparently that poster didn't read even the OP title

(clearly says teen) let alone all the info at the link. Has been taken to task for it upthread. Doubt the poster was using 'boy' in a derogatory way, but her inattention is worrisome as she implies she worked with foster children herself.

[FlatStanley]

40. I love blaming the victim.

I've lived in NC. I have no desire to meet racist, ignorant, "Christian" neighbors.

And I shouldn't have to. And you could ask the same thing about the racist, ignorant, probably "Christian" neighbor. Why didn't they introduce themselves to this family?

[marmar]

10. Just another day in America, sadly.

nt

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Time to bankrupt these municipalities. nt

[FlatStanley]

43. No! Bankrupt the cops.

[BumRushDaShow]

47. Unfortunately most have "immunity" in civil suits. nt

[FlatStanley]

48. Really? I didn't know that.

I guess I can understand that at some level.

[BumRushDaShow]

61. Most government employes (local, state, federal) are immune from prosecution

when acting in an official capacity except in certain circumstances where that immunity might be stripped by their employer. There are cases where the employee was fired and/or even tried/convicted of violation of the law... (afterwhich civil suits would then commence).

[FlatStanley]

67. Thank you for that civics lesson. I appreciate it.

Does that mean an lawsuits involving violation of civil rights would have to be filed against the larger institution rather than the individuals?

[BumRushDaShow]

71. No problem!

Most of the lawsuits that go to conclusion are done against the highest level (deep pocket) and those large entities rush them to a settlement very quickly (to keep the costs down). Lawsuits against the individuals (in their official capacity) are usually thrown out by the courts because of the immunity.

[Blue_Tires]

49. The problem goes deeper than that

Even if there were no cops, I have no doubt that some armed neighbor would have just crossed the street and dealt with the "suspect" personally...

[etherealtruth]

12. Law enforcement is insane, racist, and out of control

What do we do to combat this? this is such a serious issue and I fear very real chances for retaliation against individuals that attempt to shine light on this!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. These idiots are doing this in small town America too....

The public needs to realize this didn't happen overnight and there are whole departments that have to be restaffed.

Mike Palpantonio hit the nail on the head when he said these guys are a bunch of jocks. High School football and wrestling types pumped full of testosterone and believing the job of a cop is playing the hero in an action flick.

I say, partner these bastards with women and black people and have them wear live feed cams that go to central. Ditch the body armor and the military mentality along with it.

It's not a war zone out there, it's a neighborhood.

Cops are supposed to keep the peace, not disturb it.

[etherealtruth]

28. Sadly, you are spot on!

[WinkyDink]

14. He "would not follow orders"?? Is this a new law I've been unaware of, that we must OBEY??

[Blue_Tires]

54. "refused to follow orders"

is the new "resisting arrest/acting suspiciously/was belligerent"

[savalez]

73. I've heard it called "resisting without violence". It's BS.

[blackspade]

77. Contempt of cop.....

The usual charge these days...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Wondering if the cops pulled up in a tank.

[Catherine Vincent]

16. If the kid was there a year you'd think the neighbor would have known by now

[Ms. Toad]

21. They moved to the neighborhood in July.

Just because he has been with the family for a year does not mean the family has had the same neighbors all that time.

[savalez]

79. 4 months seems long enough.

[Ms. Toad]

82. First, the person I was responding to claimed they had been there a year.

Second, if they moved in at the end of July, that makes closer to 2 months than 4, and even if they moved in at the beginning of July that is closer to 3 months, not 4.

Finally - all we know is when the family moved. As someone pointed upthread, we don't know anything about whether the family next door had been there during that time period.

[savalez]

84. True but

what amount of time do you deem acceptable for calling the cops when you see a black teenager enter a neighbor's house. A neighbor whom you apparently know little about?

[Ms. Toad]

93. I don't think the neighbor should have called the police.

They either know the family that lives there, or they don't.

If they know the family, they know they have a black kid.
If they don't know the family, why would they assume that a black teen going into the house next door doesn't live there.

[savalez]

95. I agree.

I wasn't sure what your view on this was. I'm glad it's that.

[Bad Thoughts]

26. Wake County also has an active real estate market

The busy body neighbor might have been new to the area as well.

[FlatStanley]

37. The busy body also needs to be sued

[Bad Thoughts]

41. There should be charges for misuse of 911 and police malpractive. eom.

[FlatStanley]

46. Perfect!

[ladjf]

42. My guess is that the neighbor knew exactly who the child was when they made the call. nt

[VA_Jill]

19. ASSume and attack

That is standard police M.O. these days. I hope the Tylers are considering a civil suit against the police and possibly the neighbor too....if they can even find out which neighbor called the cops. They will all lie when asked, I'm sure. In future, it would probably be best to lock the door and give all the kids keys, though. We did.

[Man from Pickens]

20. Again, cops resorting to violence when it is not necessary at all

When do cops get held to the standards of the law? Why can they perform an unwarranted chemical weapon attack on an innocent citizen - in his own home! - and not get prosecuted for it?

There is certainly a racial component to this but the solution doesn't need one - the solution is to have cops be accountable for breaking laws (in this case, felony assault) that any one of the rest of us would be charged with a crime for breaking.

Equal justice under law - it's not just a good idea.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

29. Cops were issued mace and pepper spray and tazers so they wouldn't have to use clubs and guns...

Those are now being used by cops who play judge, jury and executioner in the field to dispense punishment for questioning their actions or authority. Sometimes they do it as a form of torture to get you to answer their questions and, let's face it, sometimes they do it to black people because they got "uppity" and they want to show them who's boss.

[damnedifIknow]

30. This neighbor needs a life

Yeah neighborhood watch and all that but I can't believe this neighbor hadn't seen this teen around before because the neighbor strikes me as the type to see most everything. Doesn't matter, the cops should have done everything possible to ID him including contacting the owner to see if he belonged there before using spray.

[vlyons]

31. I am so glad that more and more of these incidents are getting reported.

We have to finally make a critical mass white people understand that police over-reach and aggression are out of control in far too many places. The real problem, of course, is the plethora of guns that cops feel they have to be trigger happy with to be safe. Countries, like Britain, where hand guns are outlawed, make everyone, cops included much safer.

I don't think that there's much we can do about blatant racism, but we can certainly train cops a whole lot better. When cities, towns, and counties get tired paying out big bucks $$$$ for damages, then maybe some investment will be made in such training. Most of these incidents could have been settled peacefully with more patience from the cops.

[nolabear]

33. There is no "right" thing to do in these situations.

If you get out of the car you're in danger of being shot. If you don't you're noncompliant and in danger of being shot or arrested. If you are confused because you have no idea why the cops are screaming at you then you're in danger of being pepper sprayed...if you're lucky and they don't shoot you. If you stand up for your rights you're considered non-compliant and arrested, or shot. If you did not do what they believe you did and argue that, you are in danger of being framed (drug dog, planted evidence) and arrested, or shot. If you are asked for ID and reach for it you are in danger of being shot.

All of this, of course, involves mostly being black.

[Blue_Tires]

58. +1

[KurtNYC]

72. when I read the part about "refused to follow orders" I imagined that the orders were:

"Stop being Black! Stop it now!"

[nolabear]

76. "Cure my rage and fear or suffer the consequences!"

That's a lot to ask of a person.

[Android3.14]

35. damnedifIknow is right regarding the neighbor

It is unlikely, after three years,a neighbor would be unaware of this kid's presence. The racism may be next door.

[JimDandy]

44. Link has info that the family moved to the neighborhood in July

[FlatStanley]

36. It's North Carolina.

[ms liberty]

50. Ignorant remark. The South is not one homogeneous region...

Furthermore, many of the recent cases of cop abusers are not in the South at all.

[FlatStanley]

70. Just a few points:

1. It did occur in North Carolina, so there is no ignorance expressed in the statement.
2. I did not generalize to the South, you did.
3. Since I didn't generalize to the South it matters not that some incidences have occurred outside the South.

Finally, I treat others as they treat others. The state of North Carolina is a racist, ignorant, "Christian" state. I will identify the state a such.

[jeff47]

85. So which states in the South are not full of racist, ignorant "Christians"?

Alternatively, you could realize that states don't have a uniform population distribution.

The reason NC voted for Obama in 2008 is Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Durham, Asheville, and Raleigh are now a very large chunk of the state's population, and quite blue. We did not manage to get as good a turnout in those areas in 2012, so Mitt managed to win....by 2%. In a state you insist is nothing but racist, ignorant "Christians".

The state is rapidly turning into an East coast version of California: the cities are liberal bastions while the rural areas are conservative bastions. I had a much easier time finding ignorant, racists "Christians" in Bakersfield, CA than Raleigh, NC.

[jberryhill]

59. Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina

Otherwise known as "The Town That Hates Spell-Check"

[FlatStanley]

68. Hahahaha! Well played.

[Orsino]

57. Wonder how he got outside the house, where police power to act is greater? n/t

[drm604]

63. So a person can't be in their home unless their picture is on the wall?

That's what this amounts to. If your picture isn't on the wall and you don't resemble those that are, the police can harass and pepper spray you.

Kids don't carry IDs.

Kids can't prove that they live in a house if the parents aren't home.

So cops can't simply go around harassing young people who appear to them to not belong.

[Javaman]

65. no, they pepper sprayed the kid, because the cops are racist. nt

[Dont call me Shirley]

66. That kid was terrorized. Bush started this "be very afraid of your neighbors" crap.

[MurrayDelph]

78. To be fair, Bush did not start the paranoia

He and Cheney just exploited the hell out of it.

[Dont call me Shirley]

90. Agreed.

[Enthusiast]

69. This is horrible.

[blackspade]

75. Way to go thugs in blue!

Awesome police work there...

[mackerel]

81. Another white family experiencing

black America.

[raven mad]

87. So, it's no longer "driving while black" or "walking in a white neighborhood while black" or

"playing loud music while black"......

It appears to have become "LIVING while black".

I hate cops. But I hate the mindset and stupidity that remains that allows this type of BULLSHIT.

[Rex]

91. White Privliege...are people still blind as to what that means?

It's so fucking obvious.

[friendly_iconoclast]

92. We have a new "crime": Being Resident While Black In A White Neighborhood

*sigh*

[whereisjustice]

94. feeling safer yet? eom

[herding cats]

96. Are we angry yet?

If not, how much more will it take to get you there? We have a very real, very easily recognized problem in this nation. I'm outraged and I'm talking about it everyplace I find a willing ear. We all should be. If you can write well, write letters to the editors of your local papers. I'm not old and I know I still read those on a regular basis. Don't believe that no one reads those in this day and age. They're online! It's a worthwhile endeavor. Talk to your peers about this, discuss it on social media, rage against racism by our police forces whenever you can. Please, don't be quiet and let this continue. For the moment we have some added attention to the issue, let's use that to get the message out. There's nothing to be lost and everything to be gained by our actions now.

[left-of-center2012]

97. If this had been Albuquerque, NM ...

... the unarmed boy would have been killed by a bullet in the back from a cop claiming "I feared for my life".