Cops searching for a 20-year-old suspect draw shotguns on a 10-year-old instead

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.

Fortunately, neighbors saw the whole thing happen, and a group followed the officers into the alley to intervene. "This is a child!" they yelled, while the police insisted Preston "[matched] the description" of the suspect they sought. Though both Preston and the suspect in question are African-American, the man the police were after is twice the grade-schooler's age, several inches taller, and has dreadlocks and facial hair (Preston has a buzz cut and is too young to shave).

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

"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.