Mix-up led police in Lansing to detain teen

Department: Incident caught on video was ‘unfortunate’

LANSING — Lansing police said a video circulating online that shows officers detaining a teen in handcuffs was an “unfortunate misunderstanding” that stemmed from the foot chase of a suspect wanted in connection with a vehicle theft.

The video appears to show a young, Black male wearing neon yellow shorts and a white T-shirt being detained by a police officer. A man tells officers they are traumatizing his son and the male was put into a police vehicle before later being released to the man who said he was the individual’s father.

A video posted to TikTok account careyann372 has generated millions of views and posts throughout social media with users saying the person involved was detained as he was throwing away garbage.

The video lasts just more than four minutes. It was not clear where in the city the video was taken.

“Kid taking out trash being harassed by police. Father defending his son. Wrong person,” the TikTok poster wrote on Thursday.

Lansing police did not respond to a request for comment from the State Journal Friday morning but posted an explanation on its social media accounts.

“On Thursday afternoon, our officers were investigating a string of Kia thefts, including a specific one reported on the 3600 block of W. Jolly Road with multiple suspects,” the post said. “A witness described a suspect as wearing neon shorts and a white shirt. A responding officer saw a subject matching this description and attempted to make contact but the subject fled and ran west in to the nearby apartment complex.

“A different officer was in the area and saw the young man pictured in the viral video wearing a very similar outfit and made contact with him. The initial officer was able to respond and clarify the young man in the video was not the suspect who fled earlier. Once this information was obtained, the young man was released and officers continued to search the area.

“We are including pictures of both individuals. We have blurred both photos to protect the identities of the subjects.”

A photo of the people involved was posted, blurred out, along with the statement.

Posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, expressed outrage over the video and the number of officers involved in the incident.

“Just a kid taking out the trash — America,” user Kenny Akers wrote.

“This city is paying 6 police officers to arrest a child for throwing out garbage,” user Frank Giugliano wrote.

“I hope someone gets ahold of the young man detained today while taking out the trash because he “fit the description” and lift him up. He will need support around him,” Rob Thomas wrote in a Facebook post.

LPD said they hope to put the situation behind them.

“Community relations is a top priority for us as a department, from top-down,” the department wrote. “Our hope is we can put this unfortunate case of “wrong place, wrong time” behind us and continue to represent the community that we serve.”