Pepper Sprayed 10-Year-Old: 'We Didn't Do Anything Wrong'
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Dozens of people gathered in the rain Thursday night to protest the way police handled a rally on Wednesday.
The group Black Lives Matter met at the government center in Minneapolis, then marched several blocks through downtown.
They ended near the spot where they say a 10-year-old boy was hit with pepper spray by a Minneapolis police officer.
The boy, Taye Montgomery, wasn't in school Thursday. He said he had to go to a doctor's appointment to check his eyes.
"It felt like the worst taste but in your eyes," he said.
Along with his mother, Montgomery marched through downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday night to protest a Wisconsin judge's decision not to charge an officer who shot and killed a young biracial man.
Protesters say they had to try to protect themselves from cars driving through the crowd. That's when a police officer used what appears to be a chemical irritant.
Protesters say it got in Taye's eyes.
"He didn't give us no warning," Taye said. "He just went right ahead and sprayed."
"He was scared," his mother, Susan, said. "It was traumatic."
Taye is no stranger to protests.
He was at the Black Lives Matter protest at the mall of America in December.
Susan said she disputes critics who say her son shouldn't have been at Wednesday night's protest.
"I always tell him the only way you can make things change or matter is if you keep fighting and never give up," she said.
She said both Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau and Mayor Betsy Hodges reached out to her. She said she appreciated that.
The incident is currently under investigation by the Office of Police Conduct Review.
"We didn't do anything wrong that we had to get maced," Taye said.
