Three Black Teens Were Arrested While They Were Waiting For A School Bus
When they did not leave, Raliek Redd, 16, Deaquon Carelock, 16, and Wan’tauhjs Weathers, 17, students at Edison Tech High School, were arrested.
Their parents had to pay $200 to bail them out. According to Rochester’s WHEC, “Police say they were blocking the sidewalk and the entrance to a store and they say they told the teens to leave several times. But according to the officer, the teens did not move from the area. The three teens were then placed under arrest.”
“We tried to tell them that we were waiting for the bus,” says Weathers. “We weren’t catching a city bus, we were catching a yellow bus. He didn’t care. He arrested us anyways.”
The kids’ coach, Jacob Scott, who is also a guidance counselor, tried to defuse the situation and was told by police that if he didn’t disperse he would be arrested too.
“[The officer] goes on to say, ‘If you don’t disperse, you’re going to get booked as well,’” Scott told Rochester Homepage. “I said, ‘Sir, I’m the adult. I’m their varsity basketball coach. How can you book me? What am I doing wrong? Matter of fact, what are these guys doing wrong?’”
The sergeant arrived, whom Scott hoped would help, but he was told to get out of the street or he was going to go “downtown.”
Scott said the teens deserve justice. “These young men were not doing anything wrong, first of all,” he said. “But then they had to go through the trauma - there were 17 other guys who had to witness three of their teammates get arrested for doing what? Waiting for the bus for a scrimmage. I mean, they’re taking their time out, it’s a holiday. I mean, these guys don’t necessarily have to even participate in extracurricular sports, in the cold, waiting for the bus, and they get arrested.”
“As a professional, I’m speaking to the officers with dignity - ‘Yes, sir’ - and still and yet they see me get treated like nothing,” Scott added.
“I teach resiliency and abiding by the rules, but it’s very tough especially when someone is doing the right thing and then for them to see their coach get treated the way that I got treated,” he said. “It’s a learning process in this whole situation. The cops didn’t want to listen to even me as the adult, so we really need to do something about this, something really needs to take place.”
Rochester police did not respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed by the time of publication.
WHEC Rochester reports that police have received complaints in the past from the owner of the store where the teens were about people loitering and fighting in front of the store, and that’s one of the reasons why police say they were monitoring that area.
The coach was also stung by a comment he says one of the officers made.
“As a matter of fact, one of the police officers actually told me if he had a big enough caravan he would take all of us downtown.”
Source has a video interview with the coach.
Their parents had to pay $200 to bail them out. According to Rochester’s WHEC, “Police say they were blocking the sidewalk and the entrance to a store and they say they told the teens to leave several times. But according to the officer, the teens did not move from the area. The three teens were then placed under arrest.”
“We tried to tell them that we were waiting for the bus,” says Weathers. “We weren’t catching a city bus, we were catching a yellow bus. He didn’t care. He arrested us anyways.”
The kids’ coach, Jacob Scott, who is also a guidance counselor, tried to defuse the situation and was told by police that if he didn’t disperse he would be arrested too.
“[The officer] goes on to say, ‘If you don’t disperse, you’re going to get booked as well,’” Scott told Rochester Homepage. “I said, ‘Sir, I’m the adult. I’m their varsity basketball coach. How can you book me? What am I doing wrong? Matter of fact, what are these guys doing wrong?’”
The sergeant arrived, whom Scott hoped would help, but he was told to get out of the street or he was going to go “downtown.”
Scott said the teens deserve justice. “These young men were not doing anything wrong, first of all,” he said. “But then they had to go through the trauma - there were 17 other guys who had to witness three of their teammates get arrested for doing what? Waiting for the bus for a scrimmage. I mean, they’re taking their time out, it’s a holiday. I mean, these guys don’t necessarily have to even participate in extracurricular sports, in the cold, waiting for the bus, and they get arrested.”
“As a professional, I’m speaking to the officers with dignity - ‘Yes, sir’ - and still and yet they see me get treated like nothing,” Scott added.
“I teach resiliency and abiding by the rules, but it’s very tough especially when someone is doing the right thing and then for them to see their coach get treated the way that I got treated,” he said. “It’s a learning process in this whole situation. The cops didn’t want to listen to even me as the adult, so we really need to do something about this, something really needs to take place.”
Rochester police did not respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed by the time of publication.
WHEC Rochester reports that police have received complaints in the past from the owner of the store where the teens were about people loitering and fighting in front of the store, and that’s one of the reasons why police say they were monitoring that area.
The coach was also stung by a comment he says one of the officers made.
“As a matter of fact, one of the police officers actually told me if he had a big enough caravan he would take all of us downtown.”
Source has a video interview with the coach.