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New York|Sheriff’s Deputies Handcuff Girl, 11, After Mistaking Her for Suspect
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/nyregion/syracuse-police-girl-misidentified-handcuffed.html
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Deputies in Syracuse, N.Y., detained the girl, who is Black, for several minutes after mistakenly identifying her as a suspect in a car theft. Video of the episode drew fierce criticism.
Jan. 15, 2025, 5:14 p.m. ET
The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office in New York said on Tuesday that it would change its policy regarding detained children after a video shared widely online showed deputies handcuffing an 11-year-old girl the day before.
The girl was detained by deputies in Syracuse, N.Y., who were looking for a similarly dressed person who was wanted in connection with the theft of a car less than an hour before, the sheriff’s office said.
The 11-year-old girl, who has not been publicly identified, was found six blocks from the scene of the theft, according to the authorities. The girl was handcuffed for seven minutes, according to a timeline of the episode released by the sheriff’s office, and was then released when the deputies realized she was not the person they were looking for.
Like the 11-year-old, the suspect is Black, according to the authorities. The suspect has not been caught or identified.
The video of the handcuffing drew fierce criticism, especially after the sheriff’s office said it had not notified the child’s parents that she had been detained.
In the video, the girl stands with her hands cuffed behind her back next to two deputies on a snowy sidewalk. Later, she can be seen sobbing in confusion and fear. The girl is wearing a very similar outfit to the one worn by the suspect in the car theft, according to a photo of the suspect released by the sheriff’s office: a puffy pink winter jacket, dark patterned pants, white shoes and a pink bag.
