Wauwatosa Police detain black teen mistakenly reported as robbery suspect, ‘victim’ was grandmother

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A video on social media is now calling out the Wauwatosa Police Department after a black teen was detained for a report of a robbery of two white women.

It turns out, the man was the grandson of one of the women.

This misunderstanding happened Sunday just before noon near Burleigh and Mayfair.

Wauwatosa Police say an officer was parked patrolling a few blocks away when another car pulled up and frantically told the officer that there was a black man in a car robbing two elderly white women.

Captain Brian Zalewski says the people who reported the crime were black.

Police pulled over the car and used their speaker to tell the alleged suspect to get out of the car.

Captain Zalewski says the officers had their guns out down by their side, not pointed at the car.

Dominique Elliott witnessed the scene. He captured the aftermath on his cell phone and says police had their guns pointed at the car.

“He was crying,” Elliott said. “When he walked up to his grandma she was crying.”

Police say the 18-year old man got out of the car and they put him in handcuffs.

When they found out he was the grandson of one of the women they let him go.

Elliott shared the video on social media. He says he understands that police had to make the traffic stop, but think they were too aggressive.

“They shouldn’t have went that far,” Elliott said. “If you would have seen how surrounded this boy was and I see him shaking and I was just thinking 'oh my God I hope they don’t kill him.'”

Wauwatosa Police declined CBS 58’s request for an interview.