Ten-year-old Legend Preston was playing basketball with friends in his neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, a couple weeks ago when the ball bounced out into the street. He went to retrieve it and looked up to see multiple police officers running at him, shotguns drawn.
Preston panicked, as any fifth grader would do under the circumstances. "I ran because they thought that I rolled the ball into the street on purpose," he said, "and they were just holding shotguns at me trying to shoot me." The cops gave chase, and soon he was cornered in an alley with the guns allegedly pointed at his head.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"When I think about my child staring at the end of a gun," said Preston's mother, Patisha Solomon, "one wrong move, and my child wouldn't be here right now. My son could have tripped. He could have reached for a toy. They could have done anything to my son and it could have been his fault." Solomon said the officers told her she could file a complaint but admitted no wrongdoing.
-
Confessions of a Brain Surgeon: an 'exceptional' documentaryThe Week Recommends Retired neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reflects on his pioneering work with exquisitely 'raw honesty'
-
A new subtype of diabetes was found and it may require different treatmentUnder the radar It is prevalent in Black Africans and Americans
-
Crossword: August 20, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
