(NewsNation Now) — Following a gesture to protect his friend, 14-year-old Z’Kye Husain says he was pinned to the ground and handcuffed by police after a fight with a Latino teen at a New Jersey mall.
“A high schooler was bullying my friend. I didn’t like the fact that he was bullying him because he was smaller. I say something about it and then it’s a heated conversation,” Husain said on “Morning in America.” “He puts his hands in my face. I smack it away after asking him twice to get his hands off my face. Then, he pushes me and then I start throwing punches.”
A now viral video shows two police officers from Bridgewater Township separating the teens. One officer can be seen in the video pinning Husain to the ground and handcuffing him. Meanwhile, the other officer is seen pushing the Latino teen teen onto a couch before going to help the second officer.
“The female officer leaves the high schooler to come help put her knee in my back and put handcuffs on me. They held me for 30 minutes,” Husain said.
Police in New Jersey are now investigating the incident.
In a statement, Bridgewater police said, “We recognize that this video has made members of our community upset and are calling for an internal affairs investigation. The officers were able to respond quickly to this incident and stop it from escalating because of a tip we received from the community. We have requested that the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office assist us in this matter.”
Husain’s mother, Ebone Husain, told NewsNation that police said they were following “basic procedure” when they handcuffed her son.
“I haven’t heard an explanation. I haven’t heard from them at all,” she said. “They told me it was basic procedure. But basic procedure for who? just the Black kid?”
The teen’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, says he’s taking legal action to ensure “accountability and that this isn’t swept under the rug.”
“We believe that he was falsely detained in violation of the Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. So we are bringing a federal civil rights lawsuit in this matter to say to the Bridgewater, New Jersey police department, you’re better than this,” Crump said.
Crump says Husain was racially discriminated against. He says he’s building the teen’s case with testimony and video from witnesses.