Edison Tech players who were arrested while waiting at a bus stop in Rochester, New York, had charges dropped against them this week. The high school basketball players said they wanted an explanation.
“The young men are asking me ‘Coach, why? Why were we arrested?’ ” said Edison coach Jacob Scott, reported the Democrat and Chronicle.
Rochester police told the paper that the teens were arrested on Nov. 27 during the morning when an officer who was assigned to the area saw “a group of individuals congregating on the sidewalk in front of a store on East Main Street, obstructing pedestrian traffic, and the entrance to the store.”
Police said the teens did not follow the officer’s order to leave and they were arrested for disorderly conduct.
The teenagers were identified as Wan'Tauhjs Weathers and Daequon Carelock, who are both 17, and 16-year-old Raliek Redd. All three said they were merely waiting for the bus to take them to a basetball game.
“We tried to let him know ... that we weren’t bad kids. We were just waiting for a bus to go to a scrimmage. It seemed like he didn’t care,” Weathers said.
Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley dismissed the charges against the teens on Monday, saying it was “in the interest of justice,” reported 13 WHAM-TV.
Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard wasn’t pleased with the dismissal of charges.
“If we have a system where we do not have faith in our officers’ word, our entire system will fall apart,” Sheppard said.
Carelock told YNN that he was surprised with the amount of media coverage the case has generated.
“I didn’t really think it was supposed to go this far, I thought he should have just said all right kids, I’m gonna give yall a warning,” he said.
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