"We are students, not criminals." This is the slogan one student held as she joined a throng of fellow students and parents who marched to the Mayor's office, following an arrest of a black teen at Central High School in St. Paul caught on video.
The video, quickly making rounds on social media, captured a white policeman, Bill Kraus, trying to put handcuffs on a black teen who was crying for help and saying that he did not do or intend to do anything wrong. Kraus finally managed to handcuff the teen and with his firm voice, explained to him that he was being arrested for trespassing.
Apparently, the involved teen was not a student of Central High School. According to St. Paul Police Federation President David Titus, the teen's unauthorized presence inside the premises of the school bothered the students who were preparing for their final exams. The teen was asked to leave properly but refused to, which led the police-in-charge to arrest him (Twin Cities).
The captured video, however, drew mixed response. While some netizens exclaimed that the policeman was just merely doing his job, others said that it was discriminatory and brutal, a malpractice of police authority.
Some St. Paul students believe the latter. On Tuesday, 100 students from Central High School walked out from their classes and rallied to the City Hall to have a dialogue with the mayor. They presented the following demands as per Twin Cities: (1) firing of officer Bill Kraus; (2) screening for de-escalation of conflict and building relationships and trust in diverse communities; (3) training officers about racial bias and de-escalation; (4) formation of a student review board for the hiring process of officers; (5) and establishing procedures for handling of complaints and follow-up on intervention incidents.
Mayor Chris Coleman accommodated them and heard their grievances. After the meeting, he released a statement saying he understood the sentiments of the students but is still waiting for updates on the ongoing police investigation of what happened. A second dialogue with the rallying students was also already scheduled (via Twin Cities).
The students were happy with the response of the mayor. One of the rallyists hoped that his white ethnicity won't get in the way of making a right decision. Earlier during that day, they were reprimanded by policemen for illegally walking on the main street but no one was arrested. They also missed their classes for rallying that Central High School acknowledged but said that the participating students won't be marked excused (via Star Tribune).
In 2014, as per The Wall Street Journal, more and more teenage students are being taken into police custody instead of receiving school discipline. In North Carolina, an 18-year-old was arrested for weapons possession, a 12-year-old in Southaven for disturbing peace on school property, a teen in Wisconsin for theft of chicken nuggets, and a student in Florida for felony because she conducted a science experiment without teacher authorization. FBI has recorded an estimate of 200 million arrests because of the police' zero-tolerance approach on small crimes.
Watch the video below and share your thoughts on our Comments section if you think Bill Kraus showed police brutality for arresting the teen or was just doing his job. For more news and updates, follow Parent Herald.
