Rochester NAACP says police misidentified family of child called racial slur in viral video
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The Rochester Police Department appears to have misidentified the family whose child was called a racial slur on a recent viral video, according to the Rochester branch of the NAACP.
Multiple people came forward claiming they were the family, complicating law enforcement's investigation and identification of the correct family.
Rochester resident Sharmake Omar recorded a video of the incident, in which an area woman on a playground at a local park called a child the “N-word.”
On the video, Omar confronted the woman over her comments, and the post circulated widely on social media.
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The woman who allegedly made the racial slur, Shiloh Hendrix, started a crowdsourcing campaign for herself, saying she was receiving threats and needed to move her family. So far it has raised nearly $775,000.
And the Rochester branch of the NAACP in turn started a GoFundMe campaign “to support the affected family,” said the group’s president, Walé Elegbede.
Following the campaign launch, Elegbede said three separate families came forward at different time periods claiming to be the affected family.
The first individuals to come forward were determined to not be “affiliated with the real family,” Elegbede said.
His group met with a second family, which he said was “validated” by Rochester police.
“We engaged in conversations with this family, met directly in person, asked for their account of the incident, and discussed potential support,” he said. “This family provided the public statement we previously shared.”
But Elegbede said evidence from the ongoing investigation surfaced indicating that “the second family, again, was not the correct victimized family.”
Elegbede said over the weekend, he and Omar, the man who filmed the video, convened with RPD detectives and subsequently met with a family “that the Police believe are now the real family after additional information came to light.”
“We met, investigated and saw all family members, including the impacted child,” Elegbede said.
No funds from the fundraising effort have so far been disbursed, he said. That effort has now concluded, after raising more than $300,000.
“All funds collected will be placed in a trust dedicated to supporting the needs of the child,” Elegbede said. “This trust will be established in coordination with appropriate legal representatives to ensure transparency, integrity, and long-term support for the child and their family.”
A spokesperson for the Rochester Police Department said that it received new information that conflicts with the original statements made in the incident. That information has been given to the city attorney’s office, which is considering charges against Hendrix.