Caught on camera again: GRPD draws down on teens

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Another video that has surfaced of Grand Rapids police officers drawing down on teens on the streets is drawing concern a year after the department says it instituted a policy to curtail these kinds of interactions. 

A man who lives in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood in southwest Grand Rapids became concerned when he saw police on his street pulling guns on kids, so he pulled out his phone. 

The man filming the video posted it on Facebook, but did not want to go on camera. But he can be heard in the video after police pulled their weapons on the two boys, ages 15 and 16, around 6 p.m. Monday on Lynch Street north of Burton and east of US-131. 

Police would not go on camera, but the department released a statement saying they stopped the boys as they were walking on the street instead of the sidewalks, which violates a city ordinance. 

The statement said officers had been assigned to spend extra time in that neighborhood due to the high number of violent crimes and due to consistent gang graffiti that indicates potential violence. 

Police say after telling the boys to walk on the sidewalk, the officer asked for their names and identification and the boys refused to provide it, walking away instead. 

Read more at WOODTV.com


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