“He needed just one kind adult”

On March 26, 2021, the Montgomery County Police Department released body camera footage from a horrific incident in January 2020. The footage, which was nearly an hour long, revealed police officers and school officials harming a five-year-old Black boy with a disability. County Councilmember Will Jawando shared the footage and a public statement, which we will link to below along with actions you can take to support this boy and his family, and to demand that no other child in Montgomery County — or anywhere else — faces this abuse.

Every child, every person is created in the image of the Divine. This boy deserves so much better than he received. We will keep fighting with our partners to make sure that he, and every child in Montgomery County, can be safe at school and everywhere from the abuse that is captured in this video. So many Black children and children with disabilities are criminalized and treated as less than human and that is unacceptable anywhere. Neither police officers nor school officials nor any adult in a child’s life should treat him as an animal or a criminal because he behaved like a child. This boy deserves the same dignity and respect that all of us deserve, and as Michele Jawando said, we all failed him.

Councilmember Jawando’s Statement

Actions to Take

JUFJ is a member organization of the Silver Spring Justice Coalition (SSJC). To get updates, follow the coalition on social media.

The Silver Spring Justice Coalition (SSJC) put out this statement in response to the release of the body camera footage.

Write to your County Councilmember and the County Executive demanding police-free schools.