11-year-old girl traumatized after being detained by cops

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    LITHONIA, GA (WGCL) — CBS46 is fighting to get answers for a furious Lithonia mother who says a Dekalb County Police officer handcuffed and detained her 11-year-old daughter.

“I’m livid at the DeKalb Police Department for detaining my 11-year-old. For traumatizing my 11-year-old,” Cyntria Hendricks said.

Hendricks told reporter Trason Bragg that the unfortunate scene played out Wednesday evening. A Dekalb County Police officer knocked on her door just after 7:30 p.m. He explained witnesses saw a 16-year-old girl run in the direction of her home after attempting to break into a car. He then asked to speak to Hendrick’s 11-year-old.

“He asked her name. He asked her had she been in the house. She told him yes, and that’s when he was telling me, you know someone named her and I was like negative sir, my daughter has been in the house,” Hendricks explained.

Hendricks even pulled out her phone and showed the officer surveillance video proving she and her daughter had been home for hours. Yet somehow that wasn’t enough to prove her daughter was not involved in the attempted car theft.

“He’s like put your hands behind your back,I’m going to detain you. I was like what… he starts moving towards my daughter and I was like, what are you serious,” recalled Hendricks.

He held the 11-year-old handcuffed in the back of his squad car for 10 minutes until he realized she did not fit the description. He then released her.

“She is honestly really terribly traumatized. She didn’t want to go to school today because she’s afraid that the police are going to come back to her school and arrest her. She’s like mommy are you sure they’re not going to come back and arrest me,” Hendrick explained.

CBS46 reached out to the DeKalb County Police Department with several questions. Thus far they have declined to respond.

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