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The Cobb County Georgia Police chief is standing by an officer who was caught on camera manhandling a 12-year-old boy and aspiring rapper who was trying to sell his music CDs at a mall.
Channel 2 Action News spoke to Chief Michael Register about the video of Corey Jackson, who also goes by Lil C-Note, after it went viral on social media and raised concerns about the unnecessary roughness of how the officer was handling him.
“Does he have a right to put his hands on that child?” reporter Tom Jones asked Register.
“He was within his rights,” Register said.
On Sunday, the controversial video was posted on Twitter by an activist, Simar who called into question the hypocrisy of how the boy was treated at the Cumberland mall in in Cobb County, Georgia by the white cop. When the video begins the officer already has the boy’s arm locked in a twist as he and his aunt, who is video recording stand outside of an H&M shop.
According to Register, Jackson was trespassing because he was selling his CDs at a local business. Register said the mall gave the boy a criminal trespass warning and told him twice he couldn’t sell the CDs on private property.
On Oct. 6, an off-duty officer/mall cop reported that after he caught Jackson in the act, the boy allegedly tried to bend the officer’s fingers back and punched him in the chest. Register said that part wasn’t captured on video.
But the cop squeezing Jackson’s arm tight was caught on video
“You’re 12?” the officer is heard asking the boy. “You’re about to go to jail. You’re going to go to a youth detention center if you don’t [inaudible].”
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Jackson argued back as well as his aunt who was heard defending her nephew.
“He told the police officer, ‘I don’t have to speak with you. I know my rights,'” Register said.
The aunt ended up getting in a scuffle with the cop that resulted in the woman being arrested and charged with felony obstruction. Jackson was charged as well, but released into the custody of his father, according to the outlet.
“I wish the aunt, who is an adult, would simply have tried to de-escalate the situation,” Register said.
Register maintains that what the cop did was legal, especially since it was the third time Jackson had been caught selling CDs.
The officer has been bombarded with death threats, Register said and he deleted all his social media accounts.
Lil C took to Instagram to share his feelings about the incident.