According to the report, Legend was playing basketball shortly before the incident when the ball rolled into the street.
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Preston said he thought the cops were mad at him over the ball rolling into the street.
“I ran because [I thought that] they thought that I rolled the ball into the street on goal, and they were just holding shotguns at me trying to shoot me”, he told the station. The officers said that they believed the young child could have been their robbery suspect, a 20-year-old man.
Despite what Legend and neighbors say, Newark police say that at no time did officers ever point a weapon at any child in the area.
The shy fifth-grader who loves math was shaken to the core when Newark officers with their guns drawn allegedly chased him down an alley because they thought he was a suspect in an armed robbery. Robinson was apprehended later, according to the New York Daily News.
Patisha Preston, Legend’s mother, was inside her house when the incident occurred.
Fortunately, neighbors saw the whole thing happen, and a group followed the officers into the alley to intervene. In 2014, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann two seconds after the officer jumped out of his police cruiser.
‘He’s only 10 years old, how you all chasing him?
A terrified 10-year-old boy had guns drawn on him after being chased down by cops in a case of mistaken identity.
Neighbors said they had to rush to the boy’s aid, telling cops he was only a child. “They acted like they didn’t even understand why he was upset after being chased down with shot guns. not regular guns”. “Scared for his father to leave for work or play outside”.
The boy’s mother posted a video online of the aftermath of the traumatic event.
The armed suspect Casey Joseph Robinson, 20, was ultimately arrested and is facing an armed robbery charge, officials said.
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“Their attitude was like (welp he’s a black kid so whats the big deal he knows wassup) no empathy for my child at all”, she wrote.
