A Minneapolis cop was caught on camera threatening to break the leg of a teenager who said he was racially profiled.
Hamza Jeylani, 17, said he and his three friends had just finished playing basketball at the YMCA on March 18 when they were pulled over by police. Jeylani told MPR News the four made a U-turn when they saw police because they were hoping to avoid confrontation. The attempt failed.
"Plain and simple, if you fuck with me, I'm going to break your leg before you get the chance to run," officer Rod Webber can be heard saying in the video. "I'm being honest, I don't screw around."
“I never said I was going to run,” Jeylani says in response.
"I'm just giving you a heads up. Just trying to be officer friendly right now,” Webber replies.
A passenger in the car, 17-year-old Faysal Mohamed, said officers pulled them out of the car because they had suspected it was stolen. The minors were put in handcuffs and waited close to an hour as police searched the car and did background checks on the boys, Mohamed told My Fox Twin Cities.
“Can you tell me why I'm being arrested?” Jeylani asks.
“Because I feel like arresting you,” Webber responds.
The teens were eventually let go.
The four boys are of Somali descent, and said they believe they were racially profiled by officer Webber.
“They had their guns drawn,” Liban Yusuf, 18, told My Fox. “I don't know why they were so aggressive.”
The Minneapolis Police Department was not immediately available for comment, but told My Fox that they were investigating the incident. The teens said they plan to file a formal complaint on Monday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the Department of Justice to investigate the incident last Friday.
Mohamed told MPR News that he no longer feels safe around police.
"Anytime I see the police I get scared," he said.
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