Syracuse, NY — An 8-year-old boy stopped over bags of stolen chips Sunday was no stranger to Syracuse police.
Officers on the beat had collared him and his siblings before for stealing small items from area stores, but had taken them home instead of arresting anyone.
The area’s commanding officer had stopped by his house a month ago to give the boy and his siblings a commemorative police badge and talk about life, police said.
And even Mayor Ben Walsh said he knew the boys from playing soccer last summer in the Syracuse Police Athletic League.
None of that was enough to avoid a disturbing encounter Sunday — this time over a bag of chips — that was partially filmed by a witness and went viral across the country.
Syracuse police responded Thursday to accusations that they went too far in restraining the young boy after local stores accused him of yet another spate of petty thefts. Police Thursday showed and discussed portions of body camera footage that showed the officers’ familiarity — and frustration — with behavior by the child and his siblings.
“Didn’t we just go through this?” a frustrated Officer Matthew Behuniak told the young boy as he struggled to put the bawling youth in his patrol car around noon Sunday. “You were crying in the backseat of my car, remember that?”
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After driving the young boy and his two siblings home, Behunaik and two other officers spent roughly 10 minutes talking to their father about the children’s home life and trying some tough love to instill respect.
“That’s what they do every day,” Officer Jacob Kittelberger told their father. “They go to stores and steal stuff.”
At the news conference, police played about 15 minutes’ worth of body-worn camera footage. First Deputy Police Chief Joe Cecile noted the positives, including a “good ending” to a bad situation.
The boy was never handcuffed, never arrested and returned home to his family, Cecile said.
“The officers knew that child by name and face,” Cecile said. “Granted, not for the reasons we would like them to know them, but they knew them. They knew where he lived, they knew his parents. And when they took the child home, they took the time to engage with that father, with that child, with his siblings and talk about what went on.
“Folks, this is community policing 101,” Cecile continued. “It is what every citizen is asking from our police department — community policing — and it’s what we ask the officers to do as well. Know your territory, know the citizens in your territory, whether they are the adults or the children. And whenever possible, get out of your patrol car and engage with them when you are trying to address a chronic problem. And let’s be honest here, this was a chronic problem.”
Cecile noted that an internal investigation was ongoing into the officers’ conduct. He acknowledged there were “highs and lows” in the officers’ interaction with the youth.
A probe will determine “what areas of improvement” might be made, he said. He cited the officers’ language — profane at times — and signs of visible frustration as things that might be improved.
When first confronted by the man making the video that went viral, Behuniak lashed back at the man, Kenneth Jackson, who is demanding to know what’s going on.
“Guess what I’m doing?” Behuniak yelled. “See, you don’t know what I’m doing!”
Later, after the child threw the bag of chips under a nearby car, the officer picked up the bag and dumped its contents onto the boy’s lap. Once the boy was inside the back of a police car, Behuniak tossed the empty Doritos bag in after him.
Cecile expressed frustration that officers were being asked to deal with these type of calls in the first place. Officers are simply not equipped — nor do they want to be responding to — young children engaging in repeat petty crime, Cecile said.
“We want to get out of that business,” Cecile said.
He noted that historically, police were the ones stores and citizens turned to in dealing with juvenile crime. There has to be a different way to handle these calls, he said.
Sgt. Mark Rusin speaks to media about the officers who stopped an 8-year-old boy over a stolen bag of chips in Syracuse. (Katrina Tulloch | ktulloch@syracuse.com)
Cecile also addressed some specific portions of the viral video.
The heated exchange that officers had with Jackson — forefront in the viral video as the boy sobbed in the police car behind them — was an attempt at “procedural justice,” Cecile said.
Officers are actually encouraged to engage witnesses to explain what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, Cecile said. In this case, the witness’s screams overpowered officers’ attempts to explain what they were doing and also made the situation more difficult for the child, Cecile said.
An officer can be heard in both the viral video and the body-worn footage telling Jackson that they’re taking the child home, not to jail.
“You I’d take to jail,” Behuniak yelled, pointing to Jackson. “Him, I’m taking home.”
Cecile also addressed why three police officers were dispatched to a call of juveniles stealing from a local store. The responding officers didn’t know how old the juveniles were at the time, the deputy chief said, noting that older teenagers can be difficult to restrain.
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh speaks to the media about the incident in which officers stopped an 8-year-old boy over a stolen bag of chips in Syracuse. (Katrina Tulloch | ktulloch@syracuse.com)
Lastly, the body-worn camera footage showed that the boy was pulled from a bicycle after resisting getting off of it. The boy’s family has accused officers of using excessive force in removing the boy from the scene.
Walsh agreed that police need more help in dealing with children who are struggling in homes that are struggling.
The boy’s father is caring for his sick wife while working a job to try to make ends meet. He told police he just wanted some sleep when his children slipped out of the house on Easter morning.
The stores are frustrated that youngsters keep stealing their merchandise without punishment, Walsh said. And officers are frustrated that the same children won’t change their ways, he said.
Once an 8 year old becomes overcome with emotion — as happens when he’s pushed into the back of a police car — they’re not going to act rationally, the mayor added.
“Everyone’s feelings are legitimate here,” Walsh said.
Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.
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