Frightened Boy Is Handcuffed by Police While Taking Out Trash and Dad Sees It: 'I Want Justice for My Son'

• A man was washing dishes in the kitchen when he sent his 12-year-old boy to dump trash in the trashcan.
• A few moments later, the man peeked through the window and was shocked to see his son surrounded by police officers.
• Shocked, he rushed outside to learn why his son had been handcuffed.

It was a regular day for Michael Bernard, and he was peacefully doing the washing up inside his house. While cleaning dirty dishes, he asked his 12-year-old son, Tashawn Bernard, to help him.

Michael requested Tashawn to take the trash and throw it in the dumpster outside their apartment building. At that point, the father had no idea that something unexpected would happen a few minutes after his son stepped outside.

Throwing away the trash was a simple task that didn't take a lot of time, yet Tashawn was taking quite a long time to return. Naturally, his dad became slightly concerned about his son. As a result, he peeked outside the window and was horrified to see what was keeping his his boy.

Tashawn was surrounded by police officers, standing outside the apartment building. A group of Lansing, Michigan, police officers had handcuffed him, and Michael had no idea why.

Why Was the Boy Handcuffed?

Michael immediately left everything he was doing and rushed outside the house to see why the police had put handcuffs on his preteen son's wrists. He felt furious, and his son was obviously scared. Tashawn said:

"When it happened, I was really like shocked and frightened about like the situation and how it happened."

While the boy cluelessly stood between police officers, Michael barged out of his house and asked the police why they had handcuffed his son. What the police told him next made him feel livid.

The police released him briefly after Michael stepped outside, saying they had mistakenly handcuffed the boy. They were looking for a suspect and thought it was Tashawn.

"I was so mad I didn't want to hear anything," Michael recalled. He shouted at the police officers, saying his son was traumatized by their mistake. The commotion caught the neighbors' attention, and one of them recorded a video of the incident, which went viral online. Millions of people have since seen the altercation.

According to Michael, Tashawn was "puzzled" days after the incident, wondering what he had done. The boy never thought the police would suddenly handcuff him outside his house on a regular day.

What Did the Police Say about the Incident?

Soon after the video surfaced on the internet, the Lansing police department released an official statement on their Facebook page, saying that their officers were looking for a suspect involved in vehicle theft.

According to the Facebook post, the officers mistook the preteen boy because the suspect was wearing a white shirt with neon shorts, and Tashawn's outfit was very similar.

Meanwhile, Tashawn's lawyer said the boy was not wearing similar clothes. He explained, "The shirt that he was wearing was a light grey or a light bluish-colored shirt." The attorney added that one cannot mistake Tashawn's shirt for a white shirt.

The Lansing police department stated this was a "wrong place, wrong time" case and hoped people would forget about it. The police chief also apologized publicly through the Lansing police's Facebook page.

However, Michael believed an apology wouldn't undo the damage caused to his son's mental well-being. He was considering filing a lawsuit against the police. He said, "I want justice for my son."

ABC News spoke to the mayor, who apologized for the mistake committed by the Lansing police, saying the police department has spoken to the Bernard family and offered support for the trauma caused. However, when the media outlet spoke to Michael and his family, they said the authorities didn't contact them.

Meanwhile, people online were outraged upon watching the video where the police officers were seen handcuffing the preteen boy. One netizen said, "You deserve justice! So sick of sorry! This happens every day. Just sick of it!"

Another person commented, "Wth. Easy money. Poor kid could've been killed like many others just minding their own business." Most people were furious upon learning about the incident.

Here is another story where a mother checked her house's surveillance camera while her two kids were home. She was shocked to see them being arrested by the police.