Diana Chavarria: Police detained kids without parent consent

There was a ruckus when eight kids were taken to the Queen Street Police Station for kicking a ball that accidentally hit a three year old child on Tuesday night. According to witnesses, the minors were playing football on Eve Street in the yard of the apartment complex where they live. The toddler hit with the ball is the son of the Landlord who called the police after she confiscated the ball. The cops arrived on the scene and took all the children into police custody. Diana Chavarria, the sister of one of the minors taken to the station, says that the police took her brother for two hours without parental consent.

Diana Chavarria, Sister
“The officers came, but the officers they only took the kids and one of the adults up there, but they didn’t let the adult speak nor say anything.”

Marion Ali
“So there was an adult present?”

Diana Chavarria
“Yes, but they wasn’t speaking personally to the adults, they were speaking to the kids. So when one of the kids brother came from school, they took him too. So when he was trying to speak for the little ones them, because the little ones were crying because the officers were around, the officer told him to let him shut up because he’s not speaking to him, he’s speaking to the young one.”

Marion Ali
“Let me ask you this, the adult who they took, what’s her relation to any of the kids?”

Diana Chavarria
“She is not related to none of the kids.”

According to Chavarria, the children’s parents were at home and they should have been consulted. The police refused to comment on camera. The Officer who dealt with the matter, Sergeant Lino, disputed Chavarria’s claims and he says that the parents were present and all the minors were taken to the station to settle a dispute. He further stated that when he spoke to the children it was simply to warn them of the dangers of playing contact sports with toddlers present.