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Police in Kenosha, Wisconsin searching for a hit-and-run suspect in an Applebees pepper-sprayed a young Black father and his baby who were eating with their family, the family's attorney says.
The officers were investigating a hit-and-run that took place nearby and eventually found the actual suspects hiding in the Applebees bathroom. But not before mistakenly pepper-spraying and arresting Jermelle English Jr. and his partner Shayna Boyd, according to the Kenosha News.
Video footage of the incident obtained by The New York Post shows someone repeatedly begging for a bystander to "get the baby" while police hold English down next to a booth. After two officers slam English to the ground, one of the officers appears to strike English near his head at least eight times.
According to the outlet, police charged English and Boyd with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and obstructing an officer, and also charged Boyd with possession of marijuana.
The incident happened on July 20, but the family held a press conference last week, during which activists and an attorney for the family said that police also pepper-sprayed English's one-month-old son, Taquarius.
The family's attorney, Kevin O'Connor, asked for the Justice Department to investigate the incident and asked the Kenosha County District Attorney's Office to drop the charges against English. O'Connor said in the press conference that the family now feels that "being Black and being out here and having dinner is not safe enough for them."
O'Connor said police ran into the restaurant looking for the hit-and-run suspects, and immediately began harassing and pepper-spraying the family — who was in the restaurant long before police entered — without asking any questions, the Kenosha News reported.
"This was no accident," O'Connor said in the press conference. "What is the first thing that officers are taught? To de-escalate a situation."
Tanya McLean, the executive director of Leaders of Kenosha, a local social justice nonprofit, said at the press conference that police still have not released all body camera footage of the incident.
McLean recalled that the press conference was held on the third anniversary of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. Blake is a Black man whom police shot seven times during a traffic stop in 2020, sparking widespread protests in the city. No officers were charged in relation to Blake's shooting.
The Kenosha Police Department did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.
