Three teenagers in Rochester, N.Y., said their coach told them to wait for a school bus to go to a basketball scrimmage when a policeman approached and told them to "disperse."
When they did not leave, Raliek Redd, 16, Deaquon Carelock, 16, and Wan'tauhjs Weathers, 17, students at Edison Tech High School, were arrested.
Their parents had to pay $200 to bail them out. According to Rochester's WHEC, "Police say they were blocking the sidewalk and the entrance to a store and they say they told the teens to leave several times. But according to the officer, the teens did not move from the area. The three teens were then placed under arrest."
"We tried to tell them that we were waiting for the bus," says Weathers. "We weren't catching a city bus, we were catching a yellow bus. He didn't care. He arrested us anyways."
The kids' coach, Jacob Scott, who is also a guidance counselor, tried to defuse the situation and was told by police that if he didn't disperse he would be arrested too.
The sergeant arrived, whom Scott hoped would help, but he was told to get out of the street or he was going to go "downtown."
Scott said the teens deserve justice. "These young men were not doing anything wrong, first of all," he said. "But then they had to go through the trauma — there were 17 other guys who had to witness three of their teammates get arrested for doing what? Waiting for the bus for a scrimmage. I mean, they're taking their time out, it's a holiday. I mean, these guys don't necessarily have to even participate in extracurricular sports, in the cold, waiting for the bus, and they get arrested."
"As a professional, I'm speaking to the officers with dignity — 'Yes, sir' — and still and yet they see me get treated like nothing," Scott added.
