NYPD Handcuff, Interrogate 7-Year-Old Over $5

NYPD Handcuff, Interrogate 7-Year-Old Over $5

REPORTED BY: SIR HEIST (DSMC Inc.)
The family of the boy, who was held by cops for hours, is suing the police and the city. January 30, 2013 |

Bronx police arrested a seven-year-old boy, put him in handcuffs and held him in custody for ten hours after a playground fight over $5, according to a $250 million claim brought by the child’s family against the city and the NYPD. Officers allegedly arrived at the Bronx public school on Dec. 4 in the morning and handcuffed and held Wilson Reyes in a room there for four hours before taking him to the station house for another six hours of interrogation and verbal abuse, the suit alleges.

The New York Post reports that Reyes’ mother found him at the police precinct, “panicked” and “seated in a shabby chair with his left wrist cuffed to the wall.”

The incident apparently began when Reyes’ was falsely accused by another child of stealing $5, provoking a scuffle. Children seven to 17-years-old can be tried as juveniles and Reyes originally faced a robbery charge before another child admitted to taking the money and charges against the seven-year-old were dropped. But Reyes’ family a seeking damages.

“I never imagined the cops could do that to a child. We’re traumatized,” his mother, Frances Mendez told The New York Post. “It’s unfathomable, what the police did. The whole thing sounds so stupid. They were interrogating him like he was a hardened criminal,” said Mendez’s attorney, Jack Yanowitz.

The city has responded to the claims saying Mendez’s account is “grossly untrue” and that “the child was held in the precinct… less than half of the time mentioned” — which still means a seven-year-old was held for well over four hours over by police.



What the "HELL IS GOING ON WHEN WE TREAT OUR KIDS LIKE THIS" - Sir Heist