Officials are investigating how a 17-year-old was left bruised, bloodied, and swollen beyond recognition during an encounter with police Saturday night in Troy, Alabama.
Police officers in Troy saw the teenager, Ulysses Wilkerson, walking behind a closed business in the city’s downtown late Saturday night, officials said. When the officers exited their vehicle and approached him, he ran away. Officers chased him down a few streets over, and a struggle ensued.
The Troy police chief is now asking for an independent investigation. A spokesperson for the Troy Police Department told BuzzFeed News that all questions about the incident should be directed to the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation.
In a statement, the Bureau of Investigation confirmed that Troy police officers arrested a 17-year-old at 11:52 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 23. During the arrest, the teen was injured and transported to Troy Regional Medical Center, the statement said. He was later transported to University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham, and subsequently released.
“City of Troy Police Chief Randall Barr requested the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) conduct an independent investigation into the use of force by his officers,” the bureau’s statement continued. “Chief Barr’s request was approved and Agents from SBI immediately responded to Troy, conducting interviews and collecting evidence.”
The investigation is still “open and active,” Lt. Heath Carpenter told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday, though he could not confirm whether the police department had put any officers involved on leave. Carpenter noted that the “SBI does not have the ability to place any member of another department on leave.”
Meanwhile, the teen’s family is demanding answers.
“Troy police officers did this to my son while he was in handcuffs,” Angela Williams, Wilkerson’s mother, wrote in a now-viral Facebook post, alongside a photo of her beaten son. Williams added that her son had been transported to the hospital for his injuries and that she still knew little about what had actually transpired.
“Please share this,” she wrote. “Shit happening in Troy, Alabama now.”
Nearly 75,000 people have shared the post, with many calling for answers from the police in comments.
“From all over the world, people are commenting they want justice,” the teen’s father, Ulysses Wilkerson Jr., told WKRG.
According to the station, the teen fled on foot when police officers had tried to speak to him. A witness also reportedly saw the officers standing around a seemingly unconscious Ulysses.
Wilkerson’s father also shared photos of his son on Facebook.
“As y’all can see troy police officers tried to kill my son and he has massive swelling and they can’t start surgery until swelling goes down,” he said on Sunday.
His father also told WKRG that “they had him handcuffed” when the family arrived at the hospital, and police told them the teenager had been “charged with obstruction of justice.”
Those charges have since been dropped, the boy’s father said.
“He had trauma to the brain, swelling on the brain, and a cracked eye socket in three different places,” he said.
According to WSFA, police say Ulysses refused to comply with the officers’ demands to put his hands behind his back and, during the struggle, reached for his waistband like he was trying to grab a weapon.
After the incident, officers reportedly returned to the area where Ulysses ran and found a handgun on the ground, according to WSFA.
Civil rights activists plan to demonstrate outside the Troy Police Department’s headquarters on Dec. 30 at 11 a.m., Rev. Al Sharpton wrote on Facebook.
Gerald Jackson, a leader with Alabama’s We Want Justice Now who has been working with Ulysses’ parents, said on Facebook that the teen was walking with a friend and “feared for his life, safety, and ran from the police.”
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Julia Reinstein is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact Julia Reinstein at julia.reinstein@buzzfeed.com.
Brianna Sacks is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.
Contact Brianna Sacks at brianna.sacks@buzzfeed.com.
*** According to WSFA, police say Ulysses refused to comply with the officers’ demands to put his hands behind his back and, during the struggle, reached for his waistband like he was trying to grab a weapon. ***
Multiple grown men can easily subdue and handcuff one skinny teenager without requiring the kind of force used here. Anyone who thinks the pigs beat people to this extent for any reason other than pure sadism is an idiot, plain and simple.
*** After the incident, officers reportedly returned to the area where Ulysses ran and found a handgun on the ground, according to WSFA. ***
Yeah — they “found” the drop gun immediately after they put it there.
He was “lucky” to leave the scene on the outside of a body bag.