Police response to mall fight prompts outrage, investigation into treatment of Black teen

A viral video of police responding to a fight between two teenagers at a mall in New Jersey has drawn outrage over the officer’s apparent treatment of the Black teen.

A viral video of police responding to a fight between two teenagers at the Bridgewater Commons Mall in New Jersey over the weekend has drawn outrage and prompted an internal investigation over the officer’s apparent treatment of the Black teenager.

The video, which was taken by a bystander, appears to show the two teens arguing and then they begin to throw punches at each other. Shortly after, two Bridgewater Township police officers arrived at the scene and broke up the altercation. However, only the Black teenager, who was identified as an eighth grader named Kye, was handcuffed after being thrown to the ground, the video showed.

“They basically tackle me to the ground and then the one – the male officer put his knee in my back and then he starts putting me in cuffs,” Kye told ABC News station WABC in New York, in an interview that aired Tuesday night. “And then the female officer came over and put her knee on my upper back too and started helping putting cuffs on me. And while [the other teenager] was just sitting down on the couch watching the whole thing.”

In the video, the female officer sits the other teen who exchanged punches on the sofa and then appears to put her knee on Kye’s neck as she assists the male officer in handcuffing him.