The city of Philadelphia is going to pay a Black mother $2 million after officers broke into her vehicle and assaulted her in front of her child.
Last fall, during protests over the police-slain Walter Wallace Jr., 29-year-old Rickia Young was on her way home.
The mother was attacked and arrested on the first night of the protests in Philadelphia. One of Ms. Young’s lawyers, Kevin Mincey, said it was a little after midnight on Tuesday when Rickia Young, a 28-year-old home health aide, used her sister’s car to drive across town to West Philadelphia to pick up her teenage daughter nephew from a friend’s house.
She then placed her 2-year-old son in the back seat and went on her journey. On her way back home, she got blocked off by police and protesters. The woman tried to turn around after being instructed by police, but when they were seemingly tired of waiting, they broke into her car, shattered her windows, and threw Young and her 16-year-old nephew out of the car.
Afterward, officers took now-deleted photos with her toddler.
During a Tuesday press conference, Young said it was a night she’ll never forget. “I will never forget what those officers did to us that night,” said Young. “I hope that the officers responsible will never have the chance to do something like this to another person ever again.”
Fourteen officers involved are now awaiting disciplinary hearings as a result of internal affairs findings in an investigation into the incident.
