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Nearly 300 people protested the arrest of a 16-year-old outside the Lakeland Police Headquarters Saturday evening following the surfacing of an unsettling interaction between him and two Lakeland Police officers.
The incident happened at the Caroline Apartments in Lakeland on Memorial Day.
Activists from Black Lives Matter Restoration, Inc., the Poor & Minority Justice Association, and The Lion of Judah Armed Force said 16-year-old Jahmal Hudson Jr. visited the pool at the apartment with friends who live in the complex.
State Rep. Dianne Hart, D-Tampa, attended Saturday’s protest and vowed to make sure police are held accountable.
“They cannot be the protector of us and beat us,” Hart said.
“He encountered an unidentified Caucasian female resident that lived on the property,” said Minister Carl M. Soto, Co-founder & Vice President of Black Lives Matter Restoration, Inc. “This woman calls 911 and makes frivolous allegations that these boys were, I guess causing a disturbance.”
A friend of Hudson Junior’s recorded part of his interaction with the officers that showed one officer punching and hitting the teen multiple times. At one point, one officer is seen grabbing the boy by his hair while the other one tases him.
Soto said, “This is a 16-year-old who was just enjoying his day at a pool with his friends. A day that was supposed to start his summer vacation. All he was doing was what a typical teenager would do, having fun at a pool.”
The group called on the Department of Justice to file criminal charges against the officers in addition to the woman who called 911 on the group of boys, believing the incident was racially charged.
The group handed out flyers, held signs, and planted cardboard headstones on the front lawn of the police station with written messages like “Police the police.” Pastor Clayton Cowart of the Poor Minority Justice Association said protests will be held there on the first Saturday of every month until charges are filed.
Lakeland PD Chief Taylor has ordered an administrative review of the incident. A police department spokeswoman said LPD will not release the body camera footage of the arrest, nor the 9-1-1 call made by the unidentified woman, who is a resident of the Caroline Apartments, until the review is complete.
Caroline Apartments management has declined to comment or confirm any details about what happened.
Organizers are calling on residents to contact City Manager Shawn Sherrouse to ask him to rid the police department of racist officers.
NAACP Lakeland Branch President Terry Coney has already been in talks with Lakeland Police about hosting an event to teach area teenagers how to interact with police.
Taylor or his PIO’s could not be reached Saturday evening about the protestors’ demands.