Thread by @ScottHech

THREAD: Watch this video. This is how cops take advantage of young people & even their parents to trick them into incriminating themselves. Cop asks “Are you willing to answer questions.” He says: “No.” So cop gets mom to ask for him. Illegal & too common:

This video was disclosed by public defenders from
@LegalAidNYC. This is the moment when the young man says "No." The cop should have stopped right there. But asks "No?" Already illegal at this point. Young man then says, "No" again. Cop doesn't give up. Follow for happens:

The cop says, "Hold on" and then walks out of the room. Leaving the young man and his mom waiting in the room. Remember: the young man has invoked his 5th Amendment right to silence. All questioning should have ceased already. The cop isn't done with them. He soon returns.

After the cop comes back into the room, he turns to the young man's mom. "Do you want to talk about it? Do you want to ask him what's going on" What are *you* in this predicament." Using his mom against him. He knows he's not supposed to ask any more questions. And on video.

After this young man has twice invoked his right to silence. Twice said he didn't want to talk to this cop. The cop then asks his mom: "Do you want to ask him what happened?" And his mom then does so: "What happened?" The young man answers to his mom in front of the cop.

After the young man starts to answer his mom, the cop takes over & starts interrogating the young man again. And then when he starts hesitating, cop turns again to mom: "Talk to him." Then guilt: "We got your mom down here. She's trying to be concerned about what is going on."

The cop starts questioning the young man again directly. Illegal & unconstitutional. Then when he extracts as much as he think he can get, the cop again uses the boy's mom: "Anything you want to talk about mom? Anything you want to ask him?" Mom: "I just want to hear his side."

Then the grand, awful finale. The cop turns a piece of paper around. It's the Miranda questions form. Asks both of them to sign at the bottom. To indicate the questions were read to them & they understood. They both sign. "Right where the X is at."

Moral of the story: Cops take advantage of youth. Even on video w/ parents. To right this injustice, youth, parents, juvenile justice advocates, clergy & others yesterday unveiled a coalition urging passage of a law to ensure young New Yorkers get counsel before an interrogation.

The same/similar tactics on that video were used against the Exonerated Five over 30 years ago. By the NYPD. Learn more here about the legislation to stop this abuse once and for all: tinyurl.com/4fuhpzy2.