Lawyer calls for cops that pinned black NJ teen in mall to be fired
The New Jersey cops who handcuffed and pinned a black middle school student in a mall while ignoring the older white boy he was brawling with should turn in their badges, the teen’s lawyer told The Post on Friday.
“They should be relieved of their duties if they believe this is good policing … because this is how our children become hashtags,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said of the white officers during a Zoom call with The Post and 14-year-old Z’Kye Husain and his mother Ebone
The teen was hanging out at Bridgewater Commons Mall on Saturday when an 11th grader he’d never met before started hassling his friend, who is in the 7th grade, he said.
“I don’t know him. And he was messing with him because he was smaller and younger. He was kind of getting into our conversation and then my younger friend stepped in and said, ‘Why are you getting in our conversation? Like, mind your business,'” Z’Kye recounted.
When the larger teen continued to harass the group and stuck his finger in Z’Kye’s face, the two came to blows, viral cellphone video showed.
Two Bridgewater Township officers arrived to see the older teen on top of Z’Kye — who they handcuffed and restrained with knees to his back and neck while leaving his alleged bully to sit on the couch, according to the footage.
“The only thing they saw was he was on top of me,” Z’Kye told The Post, attributing the unbalanced response to racial profiling. “I was scared and it made me think.. it made me feel small and inferior; like I was like less important than the older kid.”
Even the other fighter was taken off guard by the police response, according to Crump.
“Finally the white kid even puts his hands up thinking he’s going to be handcuffed and the white policewoman just taps him on his shoulder and says ‘you’re free to go,'” the lawyer said.
“When you see that video it’s just shocking because it underscores what we’ve been saying all along, that the police treat black people differently than white people. For decades black people have been saying this.”
Z’Kye was released to his mom a half-hour after the fight, he said. Both teens were banned from the mall for three years.
Footage of the incident has sparked an internal review by the police department. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he was “deeply disturbed by what appears to be racially disparate treatment in this video.”
After Ebone saw the clip, she reached out to Crump to help publicize the incident in order to “fight for this concept of equal justice.” The ensuing spotlight had been hard on both mother and son, she said.
“He’s been stressed out. It’s taken a toll on everyone’s mental health, I can’t even work. So it’s taken a toll,” Ebone told The Post. “He can’t live without thinking about the same night over and over again. On top of the fact that he went through it.”
Even though Z’Kye wasn’t hurt by the police, shining a light on the incident could prevent a more serious outcome in the future, Crump said.
“If you don’t do anything about this, next time it can end up a Trayvon Martin or Ahmaud Arbery. So that’s why we’re so convicted to say this has to have accountability.”
Additional reporting by Lee Brown
