In the final part of our series on policing in America,writer Andrea J Ritchie documents how girls of color as young as five are exposed to routine humiliation by police officers Pulled over at a traffic quit and beaten by the side of the road. Placed in a banned chokehold by a fresh York City police officer. Violently taken into police custody, never to come out alive. Shot first, and questions asked later. The stories and images that immediately leap to mind in connection with these scenes are those of black men – Rodney King,Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, or Philando Castile. After forcing one child to squat,a male officer repeatedly traced his handheld metal detector up her inner thighAfter being pushed against the wall for frisking, many girls were ordered to squat for intrusive searches with handheld metal detectors. After forcing one child to squat, or a male officer repeatedly traced his handheld metal detector up her inner thigh until it beeped on the button of her jeans. ‘Is there something in your pants?’ he asked repeatedly. The frightened girl repeated that there was not,but the officer kept at it, making her awe a cavity search, or until he finally let her proceed.
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Source: theguardian.com