Black Teenager Pepper Sprayed In His Own Home After Police Mistake Him For A Burglar

Police officers from the Fuquay-Varina Police Department in North Carolina were left red faced after it was revealed that they had pepper sprayed a person in his own home. According to the New York Daily News, officials from the Fuquay-Varina Police Department were responding to a call from a person who claimed he suspected a break-in at a nearby home. As it turned out, it was 18-year-old DeShawn Currie walking into his own home. The neighbor mistook Currie for a burglar and alerted the police, who arrived at his home within minutes.

Local media outlets reported that three police officers swooped in on the home where DeShawn Currie had walked in to and asked him to put his hands on the door.

In an interview with WTVD, Currie said, “They was like, ‘Put your hands on the door.’ I was like, ‘For what? This is my house.’ I was like, ‘Why are y’all in here?'”

What made things more difficult for the cops was the fact that Currie was a foster child, and that his parents are white. In fact, when countered, the cops pointed to pictures on the wall of Currie’s three siblings, who are white. When Currie resisted arrest, the officers sprayed him with pepper spray, thereby incapacitating him.

Stacy Tyler, Currie’s foster mom, arrived at the scene some time later, and was shocked to find her son receiving treatment by EMTs in their driveway. She explained to the cops that Currie is her foster child, and that they are still meeting their neighbors because they just moved to the community in July. It was after Stacy’s arrival at the scene that police officers were convinced that the person they had “arrested” was in fact not a burglar, and that they had pepper sprayed the wrong person.

Speaking to WTVD, Stacy said, “He’s my baby boy just as much as my other three children are.”

Meanwhile, questions are being already raised if the actions of the neighbor and the decision of the police officers who pepper sprayed Currie were racially motivated.

A visibly shaken Currie explained, “I’m feeling comfortable. I had moved into my room and I’m feeling like I’m loved. And then when they come in and they just profile me, and say that I’m not who I am. And that I do not stay here because there was white kids on the wall that really made me mad.”

Meanwhile, the Fuquay-Varina Police Department defended the actions of the police officers and their decision to use pepper spray, and blamed Currie of being uncooperative. The use of pepper spray against this black youngster comes on the same day The Inquisitr reported about the death of a black teenager at the hands of a St. Louis police officer.

[Image via The New York Daily News]