An 11-year-old girl was handcuffed and taken into police custody after authorities traced a prank phone call to 911 back to her phone.
Aaliyah Zarate, 11, was arrested by an officer who came to Crosby Middle School in Texas to take her in after a false fire alarm call was made through her phone
Video footage taken by her mother, Vanessa Zarate, as the young girl was arrested showed the juvenile in handcuffs about to be taken away in a police vehicle while her mother was shouting, “Do you have to take her? This is crazy.”
Ms Zarate’s parents have questioned why their 11-year-old daughter was treated so harshly.
"To this day, we have no information from the school or from Precinct 3, the Constable," Ms Zarate’s father, Mark Zarate, said to ABC13.
"No type of paperwork as to what she was charged with. It was handled so unprofessionally. Very, very unprofessionally."
The sixth-grader claims that it was her friend who took her phone and made the call without her knowing, but was still taken into custody.
"It was a long drive there," the schoolgirl said to the outlet.
"And it really freaked me out because my parents didn’t know where I was."
Aaliyah claims it was her friend that took her phone to make the false call— (ABC13)
Once she arrived at a local juvenile processing centre, she was photographed and fingerprinted before being released to her parents.
While her parents felt that their daughter was treated harshly, Captain Kirk Bonsal with the Harris County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office said that because Ms Zarate is older than 10, the deputy constable was following policy, which meant she had to be arrested and handcuffed.
Her mother is not so convinced.
"She’s a child. She wasn’t a threat to anyone, to the police officers, to anyone at the school, to anyone," she said to ABC13.
"We’re hoping that we’re able to tell our story and this doesn’t happen to other children, young children."
The District Attorney’s office is now looking into the incident, and it is still unclear if any formal criminal charges will be given to the perpetrator of the phone call, according to the outlet.
Surveillance footage will be assessed, and witnesses to the call will be questioned as the investigation continues.
