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This is a crazy story. Two Harlem teens were detained as truants because two cops didn't believe that they were going to their private school on the Upper West Side. The Post reports that Latrice Jenkins and a classmate were taken to a truancy center in Riverdale because cops thought they should be going to Alfred Smith High School, a public school in the Bronx. And what's worse, the kids were on their way to taking a final exam!
The girls were stopped at the West 145th subway station and explained that they were headed to their final at the Smith School on West 86th Street, which the Post says costs $27,000/year. They didn't have school IDs, but one girl gave a card with the school's name and number to the cops.
"They did not even look at it," Jenkins said sadly. "I was so upset, because they would not listen to us.The police claim it was a "misunderstanding," but Jenkins has another reason to be annoyed: She ended up getting a 70 on the exam and believes she was distracted while taking it. And the Post threw in another fact that makes the story a little more wrenching is that Jenkins' father's 1991 murder is still unsolved."We kept telling them, 'We're late for our test. You're making us even later.' They took us all the way to The Bronx," Jenkins recalled.
The teens arrived two hours late for their exam, but officials allowed them to take it later that day.
In another incident showing that subways, students and cops are a combustible combination, this May two sisters were charged with trespassing, theft of services, and disorderly conduct when one entered a subway without a Metrocard (her school had given her a note saying as much); a cop on the scene got involved and allegedly hit one of the girls on the head.
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Another Great PR story for the NYPD.
that's why I dance my Irish Jig whenever a cop dies or has Karma handed to them plunger style.
Karma has not let me down yet. She is one awesome force to be reckoned with.
Harassing kids is soooooo much easier than trying to find those pesky murderers.
Apparently a large portion of NYPD officers must have been truant in their school days because it is really hard to find a officer who can actually use thought and reason to evaluate a situation.
So much easier to bully and harass, if that don't work whip out a gun and start shooting. Apparently from the most recent trigger happy incident they need some range time to practice their skills. 20 shots one hit ... pathetic
NYPD=revenu generating fine monkeys.
Protecting me from crime?... I say bull. They just come in and clean up after crimes are committed.
Probably because they are too busy busting kids and writing quality of life ticket fines for open containers.
70 on the exam and believes she was distracted while taking it
Another whiny over-entitled New Yorker. They probably have asshole Baby Boomer parents speed dialing their lawyers right now.
i went to dalton on the upper east side... many of the black kids there were on scholarship and commuted from other neighborhoods. they got stopped all the time. I think the school issued them special letters or something...
thank you PT, I'm a law abiding citizen and not once, ONCE, did I needed to call the NYPD.
You live your life right and you don't need any intervention from law enforcement.
And, you're absolutely correct, they come in AFTER the FACT. I'll protect myself, thank you very much.
911 is a JOKE.
Let me guess,
the students were Black.
How much do I win?
#3 is another idiot anonymously posting on the net.
Those racist pigs couldn't call the school? They can't shoot straight, they steal bicycles, harass actual school going kids & don't warn bodega owners of serial robberies & have the nerve 2 expect more $$?!
Nothing like racially profiling kids. Keep up the good work, NYPD.
#6: $2.10 to show. That's a nothing bet!
And were these girls with their bikes?
All kidding aside: Is it just me, or have there been a fair number of these "misunderstandings" lately? I can't tell if it starts at the top, with some overaggessive orders being issued by the captains, etc., or if it's just that, thanks to the lowering of recuirtment standards, most new cops are dumb as posts.
Why didn't thay have their school IDs?
You need ID to go to Private School?????
I don't think that would go well with the upper crust crowd.
what's next, I need ID for all the Montessori schools??????????????
I went to private school and needed my ID all the time.
If these girls were serious about their education they would have been following procedures school's put in place for them.
Gee zodak, you sure told me. Nice job mixing in issues that have nothing to do with the topic at hand. You're a real skilled debater.
Wouldn't you student MetroCard say you're a student?
that's right, blame the victim.
are you telling me ID's were always needed and carried by the entire student body?
that's right, again, blame the victim.
Can you show us the school policy?
that's right, blame the victim.
So, anyway...
Were the students Black,
wait, don't answer that.
so, number 13 is number three. who went to private school.
Whether or not the students had their IDs, the officers acted completely inappropriately. Unfortunately that seems to be par for the course for the NYPD. They've been harassing city kids for years. I guess it makes them feel really good about themselves that they can walk around with nightsticks and guns and bully teenagers.
Now wait a second here,
They stopped a White Student!
Oh, nevermind. whew, got me scared there for a second.
Tim N., I bet misunderstandings like that happen often but just don't make the news.
Unrelated, "Hide Guest Comments" is far from perfect but can be a marvelous thing...
It might not make the Main stream media news but it certainly would make the news in Blogger land.
At least, I would hope so.
remember the someone stole my sidekick blog.
I think the more relevant news is that black people can afford private schools. AMAZING!!! How far you have come.
New guest:
Why would they simply not call the school? Seems like the easiest route to me.
this is not at all surprising, and i hope the families of these girls SUE the white robes & hoods off of those police officers. bastards.
3 & 13: You are an idiot because Latrice Jenkins is not "another whiny over-entitled New Yorker" She's one of the few kids who don't need to be paid to go to school. You are also an idiot because you don't realize that her parents can't call their lawyers. Her father is dead, idiot. The topic at hand is police misconduct. If the police were doing their jobs instead of harassing teenagers, I might not have to list so many examples of them behaving like the crips (which has nothing to do with your idiocy).
Under what pretense did the police officers stop the girls in the first place. Since when can a cop just stop anyone and demand to know where they are going? It was 9:30 am, perhaps the girls were, wait now, ON THEIR WAY TO SCHOOL!
This is clearly an incidence of not only racism, not believing these girls would go to private school, but also of police misconduct or unconstituional behavior, these cops should be charged with false arrest, even kidnapping!
Saw two worried-looking teenage girls handcuffed and led away from 145th St A/C/B/D station at about 9:10am today (June 22).
I feel safer already.