Family of high schooler 'mistakenly' detained by police say he was racially profiled
Portland resident Amber Miller said her 16-year-old son was handcuffed, placed on the ground and had guns pointed at him by police officers while he and a group of friends attempted to drive to McDonald's for lunch — as they do almost every day.
Miller said her son is multiracial and "identifies as a light-skinned Black male," but otherwise bears no resemblance to the suspect police later apprehended.
"We got a phone call from one of his best friends, who watched it," Miller said. "It was based 100% on the color of his skin. That is the only reason that they believe my son is the person who did it."
Miller said Tuesday has been "one of the worst days for our family."
South Portland Police acknowledged that they detained two individuals near the high school at around 11:30 a.m.near the home of their intended target, city spokesperson Shara Dee said in a written statement. They were detained for less than five minutes. She did not provide details on why or how police approached the teenager.
Neither Dee nor police Chief Daniel Ahern returned calls or emailed messages requesting details on the incident, including officers' motivation, and requesting a response to Miller's allegations of racial bias.
Police officers were in the area of Orkney Street, across from the campus, to execute a search warrant and arrest a burglary suspect, Dee said. They later arrested the man, a 19-year-old from South Portland, at his workplace in Cape Elizabeth.
"I still do not understand how they came to the conclusion that my son was the suspect," Miller said.
NO ID
Miller said that her son had just turned 16 and does not yet have a driver's license, so he was unable to provide identification to the officers. She added that Black youths are often mistaken for being older.
"They were yelling another kid's name," she recalled her son saying in the principal's office. "There are so many steps that they could have taken to make sure that they had the right person."
Miller said she called the police department demanding answers but was told that no one was on duty to discuss the incident.
"They haven't called me," Miller said at around 6:30 p.m. — about an hour after the city released its statement acknowledging the incident. "Can you imagine if this was your child, and this happened, and nobody called you?"
Without hearing anything from the police, Miller is relying on her son's word, videos captured after he had already been put on the ground, and limited information from school officials.
Though he was released within a few minutes, "the incident was upsetting to the student involved and to other Deering students who witnessed it," Principal Jake Giessman wrote in a letter to families.
Miller said the incident was emotionally scarring for her son and those he was with, all of whom were Black.
She was not sure what her next steps will be, but said there was no way that the department could undo that harm.
"I think we're all still in shock," Miller said. "He's a resilient kid, but I just don't know. I don't know how we move on from here. I don't know what the next step is."
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