Family Claims 15 Yr. Old Black Boy Beaten by Macon Police

Police are conducting an internal investigation into the use of force in the arrest of a 15-year-old boy outside a Warner Robins bowling alley during the Memorial Day weekend. The boy's father claims that police abused their authority and beat his son. The boy, identified by his father as Jamarian K. Jenkins, was charged with felony obstruction and disorderly conduct after a scuffle Saturday night with police responding to a 911 call of a fight in the parking lot of the Gold Cup Bowling Center on Russell Parkway, Police Chief Brett Evans said today. The internal investigation is standard policy in such use of force, which in this case was a stun gun, Evans said. The boy, who was detained during the weekend at a Youth Detention Facility, was released on a two-week in-house detention after a hearing this afternoon in Houston County Juvenile Court, police Detective Karen Stokes said.

According to police, officers responded to a call late Saturday night of a fight in the parking lot of the bowling alley in which a crowd of about 30 to 40 teenagers and young adults had gathered. One of the witnesses pointed out the 15-year-old as having been involved and when police attempted to talk to him, he ran. The boy was caught and escorted by officers to a police car, where he was placed against the car with his hands on the car. The teenager repeatedly cursed the officers.

When the teenager pushed off from the car and tried to run, a scuffle ensued with the officers and he was forced to the ground. A stun gun was used and one of two prongs is believed to have struck him, but he was not fazed and again attempted to run away.

He was wrestled to the ground a second time and arrested.

Antonio D. Jenkins, the boy's father, denies that his son was even in the parking lot when a fight among two people took place but was inside the bowling alley. After the fight was over and police arrived, he said, his son was stopped by police on the way to Taco Bell nearby.

The boy, who his father said was cursing to his friends about police grabbing him but not cursing at police, was thrown against the police car and in the tussle the officers and his son fell to the ground, Jenkins said. He also said his son was repeatedly struck by the officers with fists and a baton and was tased with a stun gun.

"I think that police brutality needs to stop because it's gone way beyond the call of duty," Jenkins said.

He said it should not take four officers to arrest a kid. He also said his son had no previous juvenile record.

Jenkins said a security officer had identified his son as being involved in the fight but maintained that his son was not outside when the fight occurred.

Jenkins suggested the four police officers involved in the incident should be fired and criminal charges perhaps filed against them.

The elder Jenkins was not at the scene of the confrontation Saturday, but said he was relying on information from his son and his son's friends.

The police chief said he received from a TV news reporter a photocopy of a complaint of excessive force apparently signed by the boy's father but that as of 4 p.m. no official complaint had been filed with the police department.

The chief said he also spoke by phone with the father, who he said had agreed to meet with him at the police station but then canceled the appointment. Evans said he also extended the same invitation to the boy's mother.

Jenkins told The Telegraph he cancelled the appointment with the police chief at the advice of his attorney. He also said he had filled out the complaint but wanted to meet with the attorney before he did anything with it.

Evans said there is nothing to indicate any wrongdoing by the police officers and that injuries to the teenager may have been incurred in the previous fight to which officers were dispatched.

He said police did not know the boy's age when they were trying to apprehend him. And at the time, he added, police did not know whether the person with whom they were struggling had a weapon.

The 15-year-old boy was the only person charged in the incident, the police chief said.

All four officers involved remain on regular duties during the investigation, Evans said.

He identified the officers as Sgt. Danny Hicks, 32, on the force since January 1998, Officer Carder Gravitt 38, on the force since January 2006, Officer Brad Boardwell, 34, on the force since December 2000, and Officer Brandon Smith, 27, who joined the police force in August 2005 as a booking officer and became a certified police officer in July 2006. [MORE]