Robert Bady, pictured with his son Iain, voiced his outrage over the arrest
A father has voiced his disbelief after his 12-year-old son was arrested and hauled off to a police station for skipping a red light on the back pegs of his bike.
Officials in Evanston, Illinois, were confronted by Robert Bady after his son Iain was arrested.
Officers followed Iain, who is African-American, into a Starbucks outlet and arrested him, putting him in a police wagon.
The arrest has been heavily criticized, and an investigation has been launched.
Mr Bady, a former candidate to become a city alderman, told Evanston City Council, the Chicago Tribune reports: ‘My son wasn’t kicking, he wasn’t shooting, he wasn’t spitting on an officer. He was just standing.’
And he continued: ‘I just want you to realize, and the city to realize, what a hazard it is to be a black male.’
At an Evanston City Council meeting, Mr Bady said: ‘I just want you to realize, and the city to realize, what a hazard it is to be a black male’
Iain was on the bike with a friend, and was not controlling it. The friend was not arrested.
The 12-year-old said: ‘I do realize now that was a poor decision. I did not know it would get me arrested.’
He was taken a police station after officers told him he could not call his sister, and had to be picked up by his parents.
An investigation has been launched by Evanston Police Department.
After being told about the incident, Ald Peter Braithwaite said, the Chicago Tribune reports: ‘I could not imagine in my worst nightmares having to deal with these circumstances. Under no circumstances does this begin to live up to Evanston standards.’
Iain was arrested on July 12 at around 7.45pm.
Documents obtained by The Daily Northwestern show police had been called to a Burger King branch because a group of teenagers was refusing to disperse.
Iain was seen riding on the back wheel pegs which a female rode on the handlebars and another boy was on the seat of the bike, according to police records.
The youngster told the city council meeting, The Daily Northwestern reports: ‘I also asked the officer why he didn’t arrest the one who was controlling the bike, and he said, “He ran away into the store.”‘
‘That didn’t make much sense to me because he was the one controlling the bike, and what was I supposed to do, just get off the bike in the middle of traffic?’