7-Year Old Interrogated for 10 Hours Over Missing $5

[Roxanne_D]

A 7-year-old was interrogated for 10 hours according to an article from today at the New York Post. Frances Mendez, says the cops went too far when they handcuffed and interrogated her 7-year-old son, Wilson Reyes for ten hours over a playground dispute involving $5.

“My son was crying, ‘Mommy, it wasn’t me! Mommy, it wasn’t me!’ I never imagined the cops could do that to a child. We’re traumatized,” She said. “Imagine how I felt seeing my son in handcuffs! It was horrible. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

Wilson Reyes found himself caught up in a dispute over another child's $5 bill, intended for a field trip that never happened, which fell on the ground in front of Reyes and two other boys. Reyes was falsely accused of stealing the money that another boy had quickly picked up.

A $250 million claim against the city, and the NYPD, says the cops arrived at the school after the incident, handcuffed and held Wilson in a room for four hours, then took him to the 44th Precinct station house. Once there, officers allegedly verbally abused and interrogated the 7-year-old boy for another six hours.

“Reyes was handcuffed and verbally, physically and emotionally abused, intimidated, humiliated, embarrassed and defamed,” the documents say. As if that was not enough, the poor child was then charged with robbery.

Frances Mendez claims when she arrived at the station with her sister, authorities initially refused to let them see her son. When they finally did let her see Reyes, they found the boy handcuffed to a wall. Mendez snapped a photo of the scene with her phone.

The city later dropped the robbery charge against Wilson Reyes, and Inspector Kim Royster said yesterday the story was "grossly untrue in many respects, including fabrication as to how long the child was held in the precinct which was less than half of the time mentioned."

Wait... "less than half of the time mentioned?" So does Kim Royster feel handcuffing and interrogating a 7-year-old child for five hours is acceptable?

Another child at the school later admitted he was the one who had taken the $5, not Reyes

http://www.examiner.com/article/7-year-old-interrogated-for-10-hours-over-missing-5-family-outraged 

[LindaClement]

Wow.

In the ever-popular 'convicted before interview' style of policing... 

[parentalrights1]

Wow. I stole a 50 cent piece when I was 9 and the teacher just made me pay it back

[happinessforyou]

Good thing this "hardened" criminal is off the streets..... <sarcasm>

[mehamil1]

I wonder if he would have been treated this way if he was white. I don't think so. 

My son is 9. I cannot imagine this. I'd pitch the biggest fucking fit. I'm Irish. I'm related to half the cops in this city (Chicago). I'm not afraid of them. Too many have egos sky high and need to be knocked down a peg. 

This never should have happened. 

[Mommy_of_Riley]

He is a MINOR! He should have never been taken into custody without his parents in the first place.

These cops are morons

[autodidact]

keep in mind that the post is a tabloid

[pamelax3]

I do not beleive this.. If it is true there is way to many holes in the story

[tscritch]

 A) Look at the source. (tabloid)

B) Why were the cops called in the first place over $5

C) While it is possible the story is true...I am pretty sure there is a lot more to it that isn't being told.

[lizmarie1975]

This is from another newspaper:

Bully’s victim speaks: Cops should have ‘never taken the cuffs off’ of his 7-year-old tormentor 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bully-victim-speaks-article-1.1251351#ixzz2JUR5sKIQ

Anthony DelMundo/Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily

Janet Ramos and her son Seth Acevedo, 9, say Wilson Reyes is a bully who robbed him.

A 7-year-old Bronx boy handcuffed and held by the NYPD is no innocent: He’s a bully with his fast fists, according to his frequent victim.

The arrested boy, Wilson Reyes, intends to sue the city for $250 million — but little Seth Acevedo, 9, told the Daily News that Reyes is a tiny thug with a history of aggressive behavior.

“Wilson was the worst bully,” Seth told the News. “He would call me names. He would punch and kick me. I wish they never took the cuffs off of him.”

Wilson Reyes, 7, was handcuffed to a stationhouse wall for several hours, his mother said. She’s intending to sue the city.

Reyes was arrested after the Nov. 30 incident when he and a second youth punched and robbed Acevedo of $5, cops said.

Acevedo’s mom Janet Ramos backed up her son’s depiction of Wilson as “a terror (who) has been bullying my son since school started.”

“He’s violent and he needs to be restrained,” Ramos, 38, told the News. “He punches my son. One time he kicked (Seth) in the stomach. ... He has a temper, and has no respect for authority.”

Anthony DelMundo/Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily

Frances Mendez, the mother of Wilson Reyes, 7, did not want to comment Wednesday.

Ramos said she has contacted school officials several times about the 4-foot-7, 75-pound Wilson’s behavior.

“I would have handcuffed him, too,” she added.

Reyes’ attorney Jack Yankowitz insisted Wednesday his small client was the real victim.

Anthony DelMundo/Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily

Frances Mendez, seen with her son, Wilson Reyes, 7, did not want to comment Wednesday.

“The child did absolutely nothing wrong,” Yankowitz told the News. “He did not take any money from any child. ... The arrest was a complete violation of his civil rights, of his human rights.”

But Acevedo detailed how he was robbed while stopping at a store on the way home from school.

“Wilson ran up to me with another boy ... and they both stuck their hands in my pocket,” the 9-year-old victim said. “Wilson stole the money and ... punched me in the face.”

Anthony DelMundo/Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily

Janet Ramos and her son Seth Acevedo, 9, say Wilson Reyes is a bully who robbed him.

According to police sources, Wilson slugged Acevedo as 9-year-old accomplice Javonne McLeod grabbed the money from the victim’s pocket.

The aggressive Wilson “said he wanted to fight me, and I said, ‘I don’t want to fight,’” Acevedo recounted. “And that’s when he punched me in the face.”

Ramos recalled how her crying son returned home that afternoon: “He said, ‘Mommy, I just got robbed.’”

Reyes’ mom, Frances Mendez, ignored a News reporter when taking her son to school Wednesday morning.

She had snapped a camera phone photo of her son handcuffed to a metal bar inside the 44th Precinct after the arrest last year.

Yankowitz, in his six-page filing before the formal lawsuit, noted the city did not press charges against his client — but the arrest had severely scarred the little boy, who “continues to suffer from multiple body injuries, pain and distress, emotional and psychological injury and damage.”

[Kool_Aide]

I would Sue the pants off of everyone he came in contact with and raise he'll at the school.