The mother of a teen who was handcuffed by police officers in his front yard said Monday that Fuquay-Varina authorities are trying to sweep the story under the rug.
Malcolm Ziglar was handcuffed and detained on January 30 right outside his home. Fuquay-Varina Police Department released video of the encounter Saturday morning.
Malcolm is seen on video calmly answering officers’ questions while they handcuff him and accuse him of theft. In reality, he and his father had bought a dirt bike online; that bike, unbeknownst to them, was actually stolen.
At one point during the video, an officer can be heard whispering to another officer, “I think we need to talk about what just happened, because I don’t think it was probably the best way of approaching this.”
The nearly two-hour long video can be seen here:
The Ziglar family had requested the video be released and gave permission for the video to not redact Malcolm’s face or voice.
However, the family is upset that the police department released it on a Saturday without any warning. They say the police department did this on purpose to try and burry the story.
“You wanted to portray a narrative that you did everything right, but you did not,” Ty said. “It may have been great strategy, but for many of us we saw it as a coverup.”
The family cites the fact that the video is also two-hours long–which means the meat of the interaction between the officers and Malcolm doesn’t happen until about an hour into the video.
The family believes that the video was intentionally framed to show officers doing the right thing and treating Malcolm’s friend, who was also handcuffed, with respect and dignity–eventually letting him go inside Malcolm’s house to get Malcolm’s father.
“Our next steps are actions. We are beyond conversations. We no longer want to talk,” Executive Director of Emancipate NC Dawn Blagrove.
Blagrove called on Fuquay-Varina officials to put all police policies and standards, including those for how officers are to interact with children, online so everybody can see them. Blagrove said this is something that Apex and Garner have done in the past.
“If you want people to believe that you are committed to equity, fairness, and transparency, then be transparent with your policy,” Blagrove said.
Fuquay-Varina Mayor John Byrne said in a statement Saturday that the officers did follow procedure.
“While there is always room for improvement, the Fuquay-Varina officers involved in this matter addressed the situation professionally and within policy,” Byrne said.
The mayor went on to say an internal investigation had been completed. He urged citizens to move forward past this incident.
“While the mayor may be ready to move on. This family is not. This child is not,” Blagrove said.
Watch the video below:
