Authorities in Nebraska took a toddler into custody after a video surfaced of the child repeating a slew of swear words — even though they admitted no crime had been committed.
CNN reported that Omaha police with the Child Victim Unit partnered with the state’s Child Protective Services and took the child — shown in a video wearing a diaper and repeating a string of profanities that were being taught to him by off-camera voices — for safety reasons. They also took three other children in the home into custody for the same stated safety reasons, CNN said.
The video shows a black toddler, around the age of 2, raising his middle finger and telling an adult in the video to “shut up [expletive],” CNN reported. The adults then laugh and push him to say other swear words.
Omaha police saw the video, which had been posted on Facebook, and the Omaha Police Officers Association posted it to their official website as a means of drawing attention to what they called “the cycle of violence and thuggery” that threatens the future of the community, CNN said.
They suggested the police decision to remove the children from the home was based on “the fact that [the video] is a sickening, heartbreaking footage. … [and that] while we didn’t see anything in this video that is blatantly ’illegal,’ we sure did see a lot that is flat out immoral and completely unhealthy for this little child from a healthy upbringing standpoint,” OmahaPOA.com said, in a statement reported by CNN.
The American Civil Liberties Union, meanwhile, filed an excessive-force lawsuit against the police department, on behalf of the family.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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