Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Hey. Traffic 12 102 in front of Joseph. Lay down. Lay down. So you you didn't take the phone from him cuz that's what you're saying. [Music] On January 11th, 2022, officers responded to a man saying he witnessed a young teen chasing after a guy who just stole his iPhone. The teen stated that the suspect wanted to use his phone to call his mom. However, once the phone was in his possession, he immediately took off. The suspect was identified as 16-year-old Jamaa. Hey, what's going on? Where did it happen at? Like right here. I was walking like like you see where the car right there. Were you on school property still? Uh, no. It was like right next to the houses right there. And then I don't know. Right next to where? like right next to the house over there. How long ago? Just an hour. Worth. Where did he go? This way. Yeah. Both. I I was working right here in the driveway and I saw both of them coming down the sidewalk. So, I moved out of the way cuz I thought they're going to walk past me. Give me the description one more time. It was like black shoes and like white guy. Black guy. Black guy. And it has like a green tag on it. Like it's like I do not know him. I about your age or what? He should He looks like he'll be like a grade above. Did he hit you or anything or he just yank it out of your hand? He didn't like I let He said he wanted to call his mom. And knowing me, I'm a good person. And I let him use it, but he seconds later he just books it off. Okay. Gardens Bravo 52. So you saw the guy? You saw me? I know you weren't really paying attention. Yeah, cuz I thought they were friends cuz they were walking together and then he crossed the road in front of the traffic. The other guy and then he came running up to me. So the other guy went over there. Yeah, but he went down the sidewalk on that side. Okay. And Huh? Just one Huh? No, just one guy. Okay. So he let him use the phone and then he took off with it. Oh. You don't know this kid at all? I've never seen No, I've never Okay. Would you recognize him again if you saw him right now? Right now? Yeah. Like usually I probably see him like every time we leave like we all walk. He's always like walking around there and he's always the one that goes to like across the street. Are you going to press charges if we find him? It depends. No. No. I need to know right now. What would the charges be? Theft. Yeah. Okay. Who owns the phone? Okay. So, raise your right hand. Do you swear everything you're tell you're about ready to tell me is the truth to the best of your knowledge? Yeah. Okay. Put your hand down. All right. What happened? Start from the very beginning. I know you already told me, but now you're on body camera. Okay. I was walking like out of the school campus, which is like to the right, and then out of nowhere, I just feel a tap on my shoulder and I put my headphones on. I was listening to music. I turn my I put my headphones on and he's like, "Oh, can I call your phone if I'm wrong?" And that's when I just said, you know, I I usually always let him have it cuz I know if I was in that situation, I would want to send this part. So, I gave it to him. I I turn my AirPods off so he can use his phone and like not even less than like 10 seconds I just see him he just runs across the street like even with cars coming towards him and he just runs in. Okay. I'm like I'm like I don't know if he was kidding or not. So and I just see him he just looks back and keeps running. So that's when I just started running after him. Did you run across the street? No, no, no. It was just like over here. So he ran down here first and then eventually crossed the street. No, no, he ran and I ran after him and then like he I was he was running down here. I was right behind him. He saw when he crossed the street and I yelled at here so this way. Come right over here. What's the uh phone look like? Huh? What's the phone look like? It's a iPhone. What color? Is there a case on it or anything? Yeah, clear case. Okay. You're looking for an iPhone 11 black with a clear case. You're going to press charges. I have to answer that right now. You have to. Yes. You cannot change your mind. I need to know right now. You're going to press charges. Yes, I swear. Okay. All right. That's all I got for you. I got the right side. Hey, stop. Stop. Stop. Hey. Stop. Please stop. behind us. He just hopped the fence. He's back over on the military side. He's heading towards the military that way. That which way? Here. Cross over. Yeah, that's so far. I don't got traffic 1012 in front of Joseph's. Lay down. I don't got lay down. Put your hands behind your back. I don't got nothing, bro. Youing move. Do you hear me? Bro, got nothing in custody, bro. Oh my god. What I do? What the you money for, dog? Because y'all chasing me for what? I ain't do nothing. Yeah. Okay. Get up. Get the up. Come on. Did you get my phone? on the phone. Hey, you going to let nobody talk to my people? No. No, I don't think they on the phone. All right, let's see. Oh my god. I didn't want to do nothing. Where you running, bro? Where you texting? We doing slow. You You could stop and talk to us, man. I'm paranoid cuz y been chased before for no reason. Okay. Down. What kind of shoes are those? Come on. Found it. Yes. I'm telling you. I'm on the phone with my people. All right. What did I do, bro? Okay. So, listen. This is why you're being detained. Okay. You're fitting the description of a suspect of a theft of a cell phone. That's why you're being detained right now. My phone is right here. Let me finish. Okay. This is why you're explain to me. Hey, if you run, you're getting tag. I'm not going to run. Thank you. I'm making sure you understand that. down here. No, stand up for me. Your shoes. [Music] Don't put my hands up. No, no. Stand up. I want you to turn and stand right here. Keep your hands to your to your side. Keep your hands to your side. You want me to put my hands up? I'm not. Keep your hands to your side. All right. Come on, peoples. No, not yet. How old are you? Huh? See, see, I just got out of school. Okay, good. I was trying to go home to do school work. Okay. I just got back to school. I'm trying to do grade. Show my mom a child. Re up. I had bad grades. I don't be going to school like that. Trying to focus on my brother. I'm trafficing down the fence. The kid kids in the back. Hey, I'm trying to figure out what's going on. You better move out of here before you go to jail. Your car. Where's my people? I don't care who your people are. Can I get my phone? No. Who is that? They're my peoples. Yes. Can I get my phone? My phone on the top of the car. Hold on a second. Who Who are they to you? They're my peoples. What do you mean your people? My cousin. Cousin. Okay. He said he's you're his cousin. Yes. Okay. So, this is what's going on. Okay. Right now, he's just being detained. Okay. Okay. Because he did a description matching a theft of a cell phone. Uhhuh. Okay. So, until our investigation's done. Okay. If everything's good, then he's then he's free to go. that you guys are he's getting all worked up with you guys being here. Do you mind waiting somewhere else until he can call you? He has his phone so he can call you when he's done. But just don't interact with him. I'm I'm not. But can I have his phone? Yeah. If you want his phone, you can have it. Can you give me his phone? Well, let's wait. Let's wait. He says it's his phone. Let's just wait. Okay. I'm not giving anything to you just yet. Okay. I'm going to stand right here though. Okay. Just don't interact with him cuz I don't want him to get all riled up. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That's his backpack. Can my peoples get it? No. Your peoples can get nothing. Just take one second. We don't even Listen, we're still investigating. You just need to just cooperate with us. Nothing. That's That's my phone, bro. Come on. Just give us a couple minutes to figure it out. If you really did do nothing, then you'll be free to go. It's as simple as that. We were given a very distinct description. Okay. He ran away from us. That's it. You don't got nothing else. He ran away from us. That's it. You saw him. You stopped like this. He looked right at us. And then when muscles was chasing you the whole way, you ran. And it also doesn't help that your friends look like they want to come and fight all of us. So can they get my stuff? Yes, we'll figure all that out. Okay. All your jewelry, belt, everything like that can be given to your customer. Can they give it to them right now? We can give it to them and it's all going to be on camera. Okay. But right now, you've been placed under arrest. Give just give us one second. Okay. Okay. We need to finish up doing what we're going to do. You can call him. I don't got no face. Okay. What's your passcode? And who am I calling? My mom. Okay. How old are you? 16. You're 16. Okay. What is she? Mother. That one. Yeah. Okay. Do you want your cousin to talk or do you want me to talk to him? I'll talk. Okay. Just put over my head. My name. I'm getting arrested. Why? I don't know. The [ __ ] you mean you don't know? Where are you at? I'm with Garden. Why the [ __ ] are you getting arrested? I don't know. Hi. Um this is Officer Ericson with Palm Beach Gardens. I'm I'm with your son. This is why he's getting arrested. He um we're still conducting our investigation, but right now he's been arrested for theft of the cell phone. death of a cell phone. Yeah, he asked to borrow someone's cell phone and then ran off with it. Just now or about 20 minutes ago. Um, we're still conducting the investigation and everything like that, but because he is a juvenile, there is a chance that someone can pick him up, but we're still figuring that out. We need to figure out the value of the phone. We're still investigating. We have more evidence than just if he has the phone on him, ma'am. But I just wanted to let you know cuz he is a minor. Just wanted to inform you what was going on. When we can when we finish our full investigation, we will call you back and let you know when you can come pick him up cuz he is a minor, so he's not going to jail. Cooperate. Cooperate. Cooperate. Okay. So, I'll I'll give you a call when we're done with our investigation and give you more details. Okay. You're welcome. Thank you. Byebye. You got your bracelet signal? Yeah. Okay. So, I'm going to hang your phone up here so you can call your mom. Okay. right now? No. Well, I told her we still need to talk to you, but she's been aware of what's going on. Okay. Can I take it with me? If you if you go somewhere, yes, you can take your phone with you. Just give us a second. Okay. Okay. Ma'am, I'm sorry. You're going to have to step back cuz we're still trying to conduct our investigation and you're interfering. Please go at least back to the curb. You can watch from there, but stop interacting with him. Here, I'll talk to you. You write out my name, too. I can take my phone, sir. Yes, but listen. I do nothing. Okay. Well, listen. I got my own phone. I can call my mama off my own. We're still investigating. Okay. Okay. Since you're 16, did you read them for your for you at home? No. Okay. Listen. So, we're trying to get to the bottom of it. Okay. So, if everything's good, then we'll figure it out. But I'm going to read you your Miranda rights. Okay. Okay. So, I am required to warn you before you make any statement that you have the following constitutional rights. You have the right to remain silent and not answer any questions. Do you understand what that means? Okay. Any statement you make must be freely and voluntarily given. Do you understand what that means? No. Okay. You have the right to the presence and representation of a lawyer of your choice before you make any statement and during any questioning. Do you understand what that means? Okay. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you are entitled to the presence and representation of a courtappointed lawyer before you make any statement and during any questioning. Do you understand that? Okay. If at any time during the interview you do not wish to answer any questions, you are privileged to remain silent. Okay. I can make no threats or promises to induce you to make a statement. This must be of your own free will. Do you understand that? Any statement can be and will be used against you in the court of law. Do you understand each of these rings? I'm ready to repeat any to you. Okay. Here. Okay. Listen. You know why you're here. Okay. Okay. Well, here's the thing. He we have a victim that's identified you as the person asking him to use his phone. I got my own phone to call my people's off. Okay. So So here's what I'm going to ask you. So are you denying any involvement in in what just happened? No, I'm not. I didn't do anything. So you never used his phone? No. You never took his phone from So why were you running from us? But we tried chasing me before y'all gunned me down right there. Okay. I'm scared. Here's what I'm going to ask you. I'm I'm going to leave this completely up to you. You're being charged with what just happened. Okay, you've been identified. You ran it from us. You're being charged with a theft. It's a theft. You're not being charged with robbery. Listen, just listen to me because I'm going to tell you something and then you're going to go in the car and it's going to be over and done with. Okay? If you want to make good on this and you want to show us where you dropped the phone, it'll help you with your cooperation. Okay? It'll show that you've cooperated. It'll show that you're trying to work with us. If you don't want to do that, that's fine. I can't force you to. Okay? We can track the phone. We'll probably end up finding it. Okay? Put him in the car then. Can I take my phone with me? Nope. You can take it in your bag. It's not going in the back with you. Just so when I go to the next When I get out, can I take it? Yeah. When you get out, you can. But right now, you can't have it. You got one more chance. You didn't take the phone. You know it's the right. Is it really worth it? Because remember, this is all being recorded. You have the opportunity for anyone to see this. That's it. And if we tell the victim that you're cooperating, that can go a long way. Okay. You made a dumb decision. Can we agree on that? But if you help us find the phone, this will be a lot easier for everyone. Over there. You ran over there? Where did you drop it over there? I ran. When you ran? No. Where do you remember it falling out? I can show you. I can take you over there. We can take you over there. Do you remember? Was it in this plaza? Yeah. Okay. Is it Where did you run from over there? There. Across the street. Across the street. So, where did it fall out? Here or across the street? Across the street. In that plaza over there. Okay. What kind of phone was it? It was a phone. If you're going to over here, the phone was over there. So, if we take you over there and follow, you'll be able to to help us out. I ran over there. Yes, we know you ran, but we need to be a little bit more specific, right? We're trying to find right now. Yeah, they're going to take you over there, but you still have to be in cuffs, but do you want do you want your bag to go with your cousin and the phone go with you? No. Okay, let's do that. Do you have any other jewelry on you? And it's a man-made thing. Okay. Which part exactly you saying that that you dropped it off at? Oh, I was running. Yeah, but do you know do you know exact I understand that. But I'm saying I need you to try to help us to find out exactly where the phone is so we can get the phone back. So if you know exactly where it's at, then that's what we need to know. If you know exactly where you dropped it off before you got back over on this side, we need to know that. If you don't know, we just going to send you to the station. We just going to do what we need to do. I'm trying to I'm trying That's why we're having that conversation right now. That's why she just had that conversation with you. Oh my god, bro. All right, we're going to go uh to the station. Why going to the station? Where's Where's Where's the phone though? That's what I'm trying to find out. Uh well, you don't know then. That's fine. We just going to the station either way. All right. 1340. And you don't know that guy, right? I've never Okay. Listen, man. Don't give me a call. I mean, I always do. That's the thing. And they always return it back. And since it was at school, I didn't I'm pretty sure I didn't. If you want to help out, tell them, "Hey, I'll dial the number on speaker phone for you and I'll hold it if you need to call somebody." Yeah. You hold it like this. Yeah. Yeah. I got it. All right. All right. Just that side or Yeah. Yeah. Wait for your phone. Yeah. It's a little damaged, they say, cuz he tossed it. Oh, is it? Yeah. Really? That's it. We're going to give it back. I grabbed it. Yeah, he he said he did it. So, is that Yeah. Does it still work? I think he turned it off. He probably realized we were tracking him. That might just be your screen protector that's cracked. Yeah, that that's stuck. Was that like that before? A little bit. Okay. Hopefully, it's just for screen protector. Yeah, that's I can I don't need the serial numbers and all that, right? Cuz we're not entering anything. I don't need like list. It's just Okay. It's an iPhone 11. What's Who's your provider? AT&T, Verizon. Uh, okay. And that's your phone? Yes. You understand? He's under arrest. We're going to charge him with a theft. What do you feel like the value I mean, how do we list the value of these? Cuz the state attorney is not taking a grand. They're not They're not doing it anymore. 500. All right. You good? You need anything else here? Let me get you a packet. Hang on. I'm going to put these here and when you get released, you're going to get them right back. Okay. Listen, a lot happened. I know you spoke with Officer Ericson and I know you've been speaking with Officer How a little bit. Okay, we got the phone back. I know you were going to take us across the street and show us where you dropped it. Is that what you were going to do? Okay. Do Do you want to tell me what happened? I had my I called I was trying to call my mom. Okay. So, you asked him to borrow the phone. No, I have my own phone. Okay. So, how did you end up with this phone? I see it on the floor. Where? On the grass. I saw I pissed you know. So you you didn't take the phone from him. Is that that's what you're saying? That's the story you want to stick with for for the report is that you were just randomly walking in the grass behind homes and you saw a phone and you picked it up. That's what that's what you want to stick with. It's up to you, man. I'm I'm going to put down what you say. What's wrong? Okay. So, you don't want to give a statement. That's what you're going to say is that you were just running from the police behind homes and you found a phone laying in the grass and you picked it up. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Absolutely. Huh? I got out of the school. I seen the phone. I picked it up. I can't hear you. When I walked out of the school, I seen the phone and I picked it up. That's what you So, if I if we if we find cameras at the school and we go back to look at the school cameras, that's what it's going to show. Listen, just be straight, okay? You're getting charged with theft. Here's what's happening. We We can really press this and I'm not It's done. What What I'm telling you is done. I'm not threatening you, promising you. I'm telling you what we did for you. Anything above $750 is a felony. Okay? There's varying information about how much a phone costs. We were already listening to the the cost of a phone of $500. So, you're getting a misdemeanor. It came out as a robbery. We're not charging you with robbery. We're not even charging you with grand theft. and charging you with misdemeanor theft of a phone. That's it. The same as going into a store and stealing a pair of socks. It's the same thing. No matter what you tell me, I'm going to go ahead and write out this rough arrest, this one sheet of paper, and you're going to go home with your mom as soon as we call her. What I'm asking you now, you've been read your rights. You understand your rights. They were read to you on camera. What I'm asking you is, do you want to tell me what happened to tell me the truth so I can mark down that you were cooperative, remorseful, this, that, and the other thing? or do you want to just go with you found it laying on the ground? And if we if we do find video evidence or any kind of evidence that rebutes what you're saying, it's going to make you look even worse. So, it's completely up to you. Do you want to be straight, own up to what you did, or do you want to just leave it at that? I'm not tricking you. You're getting the same charge regardless. I'm giving you an opportunity to show that you're being remorseful and cooperative. Do you want to tell me what happened? Just be honest. I don't want to go home, man. Okay. Have a seat. I'm calling her. No, we're calling her for you. I can't talk to her. What do you want to talk to her about? She's coming here to get you. 30 minutes. She's coming here to get you. You can talk to her then. I can't talk to her because there's nothing you need to tell her in the next 30 minutes. I can't wait 30 minutes. Yeah. I need to go do paperwork. Young man, are you going to talk to the officer? Are you going to talk to the officer? Yes or no? Indeed. Have a seat. Have a seat. Have a seat. Have a seat. So, I can't talk to him. You want to talk to the officer? Okay, we'll talk to the officer. Talk to my mom. No. She'll be here in 30 minutes. Huh? In 30 minutes, your mom will be here and you're going to be released to her. Do you want to tell me the truth about what happened or not? Talking to my mom, bro. You're going to in 30 minutes. Do you want to tell me what happened or not? Okay, stay seated. I'm gonna be straight with you. I called your mom. I asked her for the person coming's number. She said, "Don't worry about it." Okay? And although you've been a gentleman since you've been arrested, you're not giving me the full story either. So, I'm not going to go out of my way to accommodate you if you're not going to go out of your way to accommodate me. They told me they're on the way. When they get here, you'll go. If it's midnight, you'll sit here till midnight. Why? Because I called your mom and your mom said no. You could call her again. I could do all kinds of things. I could do a cartwheel. I'm not doing that. We're going to sit here and wait. [Music]