A Battle Creek, Mich., teen is at the center of a growing backlash after police detained him twice in 10 days, incidents that his family says show a pattern of racial profiling and overly aggressive policing. The case has drawn backlash from locals and revived wider questions about how officers treat Black teens in public spaces.

According to reports from News 8, 16-year-old Jeremiah Spearman was first stopped on June 4 while walking back to his aunt’s house without shoes on. Body camera video showed officers ordering him to come over, then tackling him to the ground and handcuffing him after he said he was just walking home. His mother, Martricia Spearman, said the second detention came on June 14, when officers again stopped and handcuffed him.

“If they would have known that he already had been through this and the traumatic experience that he had with the first time, they would have understood why he was looking back and watching them, his mother said. “[He was] trying to make sure that they weren’t about to jump out on him. Which they still did anyway, cut the traffic off to jump out on him.”

In the video, the teen can be heard speaking to the officers in a state of distress. “I’m not even doing nothing, bro,” he said in one video, as officers grabbed him and things escalated to a scuffle. 

“I don’t have nothing. I don’t have nothing,” Spearman repeated. “Oh my God, oh my God.”

“This is stupid. I don’t have nothing. I was just walking home. This is dumb,” he said.

Battle Creek police Chief Shannon Bagley has defended the officers, saying the stops were appropriate and meant to resolve the situation safely. In the second encounter, officers said they believed Spearman may have been armed after seeing him clutching his pants, and he later told them he had a pocket knife. The teen’s family says the repeated stops were unnecessary and traumatic, and they want city leaders to investigate.

The controversy comes as communities nationwide keep debating policing, youth treatment, and continued racial bias. For many young people, especially Black teens, a routine walk can turn into a frightening and even fatal encounter with police. That Jeremiah was stopped twice in such a short period has raised alarm within the community.

“That is not community policing. That guy does not need to be a cop! He's a liability,” said one commenter on YouTube.