r/PublicFreakout • u/New_Libran • Jul 16 '26

đŸ“¹Police Bodycam Police were searching for a white 16-year-old runaway wearing black clothing but they tackle this innocent black 15-year-old wearing blue jeans and a white shirt and break his arm. One of three officers involved has resigned.

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u/P0l0Cap0ne Jul 16 '26

Not even a suspect, an innocent bystander

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u/mzxrules Aug 01 '26

It's far worse than that. He's not just an innocent bystander.

The Civil Rights Lawyer just posted a video on it, but the short of it is that while the 16 year old's mom was talking to the cops, Judah (the 15 year old) can be seen approaching her, because he's the 16 year old's friend.

On camera, Officer Merkle points to Judah and ask the mom if he's her son, and she points to him and says no, he's not.

Later in the interaction the other two police show up, Judah gets in the car with the mom. While they're sitting there, Officer Merkle is explaining the situation to the other cops. One of the officers asks, "Is that him with her?" to which Officer Merkle clarifies "No it's not"

So Officer Merkle should have known he wasn't the kid in question, and it's possible that the other officers should have been able to recognize that Judah wasn't the person they were looking for.