In case anyone was wondering, the New York Police Department takes their job seriously. This is apparent after the NYPD cracked down on a Bronx third-grader accused of punching and stealing $5 from a fellow student by locking him to a pipe in a holding room.
The department, already under criticism for other issues, seems to think this was a good idea.
Wilson Reyes, 7, punched a 9-year-old student and swiped the cash back on December 4 according to accounts. Differing reports from both the New York Daily News and New York Post conflict on how the fight between the boys at PS 114 began. In the Post report, students were said to be gathering for a school trip when one student dropped the money in front of Reyes and two others. One of the kids snatched the cash but Reyes was made the fall guy which led to the fight, according to police sources. Instead of taking the boy to the principal’s office, the boys in blue were called in.
Frances Mendez, Reyes’ mother, has claimed that her son was arrested in the classroom and detained at school for four hours before cops hauled him to the 44th precinct for an additional six hours. Mendez has hired counsel and is threatening to sue the city for $250 million over the treatment of her son. But it appears that Reyes may have had run-ins with the older student before. The Post interviewed the father of Seth Acevedo, Santiago, earlier today. “There were always teasing him because of his weight. Sometimes he didn’t even want to go to school because of it,” he said.
The NYPD has debunked Mendez’s 10 hour claim, saying they only held her son for four hours and 40 minutes. According to sources, cops said they were following the rules citing that children aged 7 to 17 must be charged as juveniles. Further, the sources say that locking Reyes down was the only possible solution.
It doesn’t add up and by the looks of things, this story isn’t going anywhere. Check out the now infamous NY Post cover of a cuffed Reyes on the next page.
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Photo: Frances Mendez
