Cleveland mom claims teens who pointed a gun at her son were denied admission to juvie

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A Cleveland mother is furious after she says a group of teens tried to steal her car and pointed a gun at her child.

She claims Garfield Heights police arrested them following a police pursuit less than an hour later, but the juveniles were released to their parents almost immediately.

“I just wish the juvenile system would step up and do something because this is just insane at this point,” the Cleveland mother, who wants to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said.

Garfield Heights police body camera video shows the tense moments six kids were arrested driving a stolen Kia. Police chased them into Cleveland Sunday afternoon.

A Cleveland mother claims the same teens pointed a gun at her 12-year-old son and tried to carjack her family about 45 minutes earlier. The whole thing was captured on her surveillance camera.

She says the kids didn’t actually shoot. The loud bangs in the video were the sounds of her panicked preteen son slamming the door.

“He came running he’s like, ‘I’ll pop it. I’ll pop it, I swear on on my Granny, I’ll pop it’ and then they hurried up and they jumped in the car and then they flew off,” the mom said.

The mom said she was able to get a photo of their license plate and called police right away. She says police quickly confirmed the Kia was stolen.

“Probably within like five minutes, there was like 10 Cleveland cop cars, and in the process of us giving our statement, you could hear on the radio that they were actually in pursuit of chasing them at that time,” the mother recalled.

Garfield Heights police arrested the six juveniles on E. 65th Street.

The case is now in Cleveland police’s hands, and they have not confirmed if these are the same suspects, but this mother says her son went to the Garfield Heights police station and identified them.

“He really just tells me he doesn’t want to go out the house, and he just doesn’t want to play outside in your front yard,” said the mother. “So, and then, as you hear in the video, you hear them laughing, like, how is that funny that you pointed a gun at a 12-year-old?”

Garfield Heights police say all six teens are suspects in seven car thefts and three attempted thefts.

Police say all the kids were denied acceptance to the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center and released to their parents that same night.

“It’s bullcrap in my eyes,” the mother said. “I talked to the cops right away, before they even released them to Cleveland, and they said, unfortunately, it’s out of our hands. We have to release them to Cleveland. I’m sorry to tell you, but I guarantee they’re going to get let go and we asked, how is that even possible? He said that pretty much identifying helps the case, but they pretty much had the case sealed, so now it’s just a waiting game.”

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office is placing the blame on the Garfield Heights Police Department.

Lexi Bauer, Communications Specialist with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office sent 19 News the following statement, “Our office has been outspoken on our stance on juvenile crime. We work diligently to hold juvenile offenders accountable and to protect the community.

In order for a juvenile to be admitted to the Detention Center, under current admission criteria, there is certain requisite information that must be provided to both the Detention Center and the Prosecutor’s Office by the arresting agency. This was not done by the Garfield Heights Police Department.

There was clearly a breakdown of communication in this instance. We have discussed this matter with the Garfield Heights Police Department to ensure miscommunications do not happen in the future. We respect all of our law enforcement partners and look forward to continuing our partnership.”

Copyright 2024 WOIO. All rights reserved.