TOLEDO, Ohio — A mother and community activists expressed frustration on Monday about police in Swanton, saying Black families are being unfairly treated by the department.
The Community Solidarity Response Network held a news conference inside Toledo’s Frederick Douglass Community Center. The group’s co-founder, Brother Washington Muhammad, said it was important for area residents to know about the May arrest of the 16-year-old son of Kawana Hunter.
Hunter said her son was arrested after coming to the aid of his 13-year-old brother, who was beaten up by a Swanton Middle School classmate at a Swanton park. Hunter said her youngest son is frequently bullied at school and was called multiple racially offensive names before his classmate wrestled him to the ground and split his lip.
She said he ran to the other side of the park and told his older brother, who returned and hit the classmate.
Court documents indicate her two sons were each charged with aggravated assault for “using deadly force” and knowingly causing serious physical harm to another. They are scheduled for an appearance in Fulton County Juvenile Court on Wednesday.
According to Hunter, two high school students urged the younger teen to attack her son, physically and verbally, and then recorded the confrontation. She said the police then interviewed the attackers, but not her sons, before the older son was arrested at school the following day.
“My children were put in position where they needed to defend themselves," Hunter said. "Instead of Swanton police doing a proper investigation, they took the statement of three white individuals and never took the statements of my black children or their Black friends."
She said the only time that police talked to her 13-year-old son was the following day, after her older son was arrested and held overnight at a juvenile facility. Hunter said that interview only happened after she went to the police station to complain.
“Swanton police reporting practices left us with no other choice but to let this unjust example be known,” Muhammad said.
Anika Fields, who said she has faced racial intimidation for years from her Swanton neighbors, also spoke in support of the Hunter family.
“We have African-American families experiencing hate crimes in Swanton, and what Swanton continues to do, unfortunately, with their legal system is they try to change the narrative and try to stereotype Black children and make it appear as though they are criminals, even when they are physically attacked,” Fields said.
In a later phone interview, Swanton Police Chief John Trejo, who was appointed chief five weeks ago, said he has talked to both Fields and Hunter. While he didn’t want to discuss specifics of the case, he expressed frustration with the attention.
“I can say that our department investigates everything equally," he said. "It doesn’t matter the race, age, or sex of the individual. We investigate and forward it to the proper authorities."
In a Monday afternoon phone interview, Hunter said she viewed the fight as boys just fighting on the playground. She said her sons have never been in trouble and are both on the honor roll.
“I want the whole story to be told and some type of mediation between the children,” she said. “My 13-year-old got beat up and he still got charged.”
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