On March 13, after not being able to find her 12-year-old son for an extended period, Amy Olzak called the Idaho Falls Police Department to report him missing. Instead of helping her son, however, according to Olzak and multiple witnesses, the officer who responded brutally attacked this young boy.“I just wanted them to help me find where he was,” said Olzak. Ironically, this would never happen.
After spending all day looking for him with friends, Olzak finally located her son. Olzak then called the police to inform them that she no longer needed their services. However, police were not done yet.
“I just wanted them to be aware. They came over. I talked to an officer for a minute, and he walked over to my son. Then he put my son’s hand behind his back and like lifted him up in the air and slammed his face into the trunk of a car,” said Olzak.
The car belongs to Olzak’s friend, Courtney Beck, who also witnessed the officer attack this child.
“He put his arm behind his back and his head into the back of trunk hard enough that it chipped his tooth and then placed him under arrest,” said Beck. There was “absolutely no reason for it,” she added.
Another witness Jessica Bowles said she was in awe as she watched a full grown male police officer attack a small child.
“I walked up closer and saw a chipped tooth, blood, and two fats lips,” said Bowles.
Olzak’s son was bleeding from his mouth and crying when he was placed under arrest for no apparent reason other than he was missing.
(function(d) { var params = { id: "c5e61464-405e-47d1-bf21-d8047e261214", d: "dGhlZnJlZXRob3VnaHRwcm9qZWN0LmNvbQ==", wid: "130998", exitPop: true, cb: (new Date()).getTime() };
var qs=[]; for(var key in params) qs.push(key+'='+encodeURIComponent(params[key])); var s = d.createElement('script');s.type='text/javascript';s.async=true; var p = 'https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https' : 'http'; s.src = p + "://api.content.ad/Scripts/widget2.aspx?" + qs.join('&'); d.getElementById("contentad130998").appendChild(s); })(document);
(function(d) { var params = { id: "21dafb89-bc85-44f9-848d-7db2e295303d", d: "dGhlZnJlZXRob3VnaHRwcm9qZWN0LmNvbQ==", wid: "134852", exitPopMobile: true, cb: (new Date()).getTime() };
var qs=[]; for(var key in params) qs.push(key+'='+encodeURIComponent(params[key])); var s = d.createElement('script');s.type='text/javascript';s.async=true; var p = 'https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https' : 'http'; s.src = p + "://api.content.ad/Scripts/widget2.aspx?" + qs.join('&'); d.getElementById("contentad134852").appendChild(s); })(document);
At this point, Olzak called the police again to inform them of what was happening.
“Another officer came over, and they decided he needed medical attention,” said the mother. “He was kept in handcuffs until I took him home.”
Olzak is still confused as to why her son was arrested as she claims that the officer never gave her a reason.
“In this particular case there was a juvenile that was signed as a runaway,” said IFPD Capt. Royce Clements. Clements explained to Local 8 News that Idaho law gives police the authority arrest children and place them in detention centers if they are declared runaways. However, the law also allows police to release the child to the parents as well. But apparently that was not an option for this brutal cop.
Clements noted that the officer involved in the incident is being investigated.
“In this particular case it was determined that we did send this to internal affairs and that is ongoing. When a case goes to internal affairs there is a process by which we go through that. Once that investigation is completed the full results of that come back to the chief of police and as an administrative team we discuss that and make a determination as if or what sanctions will or need to take place,” Clements said.
This attack on a child is but a symptom of relying on the force of the state to solve problems. This mother thought that she would receive help from the police when calling them to report her son. Instead, the officer resorted to violence to provide his ostensible public service, and now a child is permanently damaged, and the taxpayers will likely be held to the fire for it.
