Seven-year-old, Wilson Reyes, from the Bronx, New York, was handcuffed by the NYPD after being accused of stealing $5 from another student after school. Reyes was held in police custody for nearly 10 hours.
The boy's mother Frances Mendez told the New York Post that Wilson Reyes was "interrogated" by police on Dec. 4.
"My son was crying, 'Mommy, it wasn't me! Mommy, it wasn't me!' Mendez said to the Post yesterday. "I never imagined the cops could do that to a child. We're traumatized," Mendez told the New York Post last night. "Imagine how I felt seeing my son in handcuffs!" she said. "It was horrible. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe what I was seeing."
The family attorney, Jack Yankowitz has filed a $250 million claim against the city and the New York Police Department.
Yankowitz indicated that Wilson was handcuffed and held in a room at P.S. 114 in the Bronx for four hours, then transported to a police precinct. There he was allegedly held for six hours and charged with robbery. The city dropped the charges on Dec. 26
The Mendez told the Post she initially wasn't allowed to see her son when she went to the station. When she did get to him, she saw that he had been cuffed by one wrist to the wall, and she snapped a photo of him.
Meanwhile, the other child involved in the altercation, 9-year-old Seth Acevedo told The New York Daily News that Wilson had a history of attacking him.
"Wilson was the worst bully," Acevedo said. "He would call me names. He would punch and kick me. I wish they never took the cuffs off of him."
Acevedo's mother called Reyes a "terror," claiming he "has been bullying my son since school started." "He's violent and he needs to be restrained. "He punches my son. One time he kicked him in the stomach. ... He has a temper, and has no respect for authority."
