https://www.facebook.com/quelle.dawayne/videos/917068781828312/
What was supposed to be a routine traffic stop soon devolved into a chaotic and frightening scene for an 8-year-old girl who watched as police dragged a family friend from the vehicle and illegally searched their car.
In a video streamed via Facebook Live on Sunday, a woman named Quelle Robinson detailed the harrowing incident of what she deemed excessive force by police and a violation of their civil rights.
“Please share this with family, friends [and] whoever you deem necessary,” Robinson wrote in the post. “Four Black children in a car, our rights were violated, our lives at risk, and our safety in danger!”
According to Robinson, police explained that they were pulled over because their headlights were out. Officers bypassed the driver, however, and proceeded to question a person in the passenger’s seat named Jalen. Placing his hands on the dashboard where they could clearly be seen, Jalen then asked officers why he was being asked to step out of the car. The cops didn’t give an answer.
Moments later, police are seen pulling the man from the passenger’s seat and pinning him to the ground. Robinson, her 8-year-old sister, Payge and the driver can be heard shouting and pleading for Jalen’s life as officers scuffle with him on the ground.
Later in the live video clip, one officer begins searching the car without permission. When Robinson calls him out on it, the cop snarled, “…You wanna be next?! Then sit back!” Authorities eventually asked everyone to step out of the car, so they all could be searched. They were allowed back in the car once officers were finished.
Robinson continued filming throughout the harrowing ordeal, even after an officer told her to leave her phone in the car. As for her little sister, the incident was nothing short of traumatic.
“I’m scared for Jalen’s life,” Robinson told her sister. “This is the first time he’s ever got arrested; this is the first time he got pulled over. My mom told me to always keep my hands up … you know what you gotta do, Payge.”
“They say you keep your hands up cause you don’t have any weapons on you,” the 8-year-old chimes in.
See more of the video above.
