Scott Henson, Austin, Texas resident, was stopped by police twice while walking his five-year-old grandchild down the street. The second time they handcuffed him while she watched. The reason? Scott is white and Ty is black.
Technically, Ty isn’t Henson’s granddaughter – but don’t tell her that. Although not related, Henson and his wife raised Ty’s mother. She calls them Mom and Dad, so as far as Ty’s concerned, they’re her grandparents. Spending weekends with the Hensons is something Ty enjoys.
As a reward for getting good marks in kindergarten, Scott took Ty skating at a rink down the street from his home. The trouble started on the walk home.
A female deputy constable called Scott’s name and told him to step away from the girl. She explained that there was a report of a white man chasing a black girl, and she wanted to question Ty separately. When Ty identified Scott as her “Grandpa” and ran to hug Scott’s leg, the deputy relented and started questioning Henson. Upset, Scott told her he just wanted to take his grandchild home, so the deputy let them go. A little later, with the Henson home in sight, four police cars converged on them.
Officers jumped out of their vehicles with tasers drawn, demanding that Henson throw up his hands and step away from the child. The officers grabbed the child and put her in the backseat of a vehicle. By now there were a total of nine to ten police cars surrounding Henson and his granddaughter.
“ I gave them the phone numbers they needed to confirm who Ty was and that she was supposed to be with me (and not in the back of their police car), but for quite a while nobody seemed too interested in verifying my story. One officer wanted to lecture me endlessly about how they were just doing their job, as if the innocent person handcuffed on the side of the road cares about such excuses. I asked why he hadn’t made any calls yet, and he interrupted his lecture to say, ‘We’ve only been here two minutes, give us time” (It had actually been much longer than that). Maybe so, I replied, sitting on the concrete in handcuffs, but there are nine of y’all milling about doing nothing by my count so you’ve had 18 minutes for somebody to get on the damn phone by now so y’all can figure out you screwed up.”
By this time, there were 10 police cars at the scene, including the shift supervisor and the deputy that had already talked with them. Scott felt he was guilty of the “heinous crime of babysitting while white.” Eventually they released Henson, but there were no apologies issued, and Ty was left with a negative view of law officers. Scott feels bad about that.
“I hate for a 5-year-old to be subjected to such an experience. I’d like her to view police as people she can trust instead of threats to her and her family, but it’s possible I live in the wrong neighborhood for that.”
