Cops Detain BK Trick-Or-Treaters For Hours On Halloween: Report

COBBLE HILL, BROOKLYN — A group of trick-or-treaters spent Halloween night detained in a police precinct for hours after cops swarmed them on a Cobble Hill street over a possible stolen cell phone, Gothamist and The City report.

The boys, all black and as young as 12, had come from their home in Red Hook to join friends trick or treating in Cobble Hill when around 8:30 p.m., about a dozen uniformed and undercover officers sprang from their cars on Court Street and swarmed the group, the boys and witnesses told the outlets.

The kids ran away terrified as the officers, who eventually drew their guns, caught up to at least four of the trick-or-treaters.

“The way that they jumped out of the car — everybody was scared,” one boy, Dibo, told Gothamist.

Dibo was eventually let go by police, but three others were handcuffed and taken to the 76th Precinct, where they were kept for hours without being allowed to see their parents who sat in the waiting area outside.

Parents of the three boys — ages 12, 14 and 15 — told reporters that police hadn't called them to let them know their sons were being detained. Most found out from the boys' friends and one mom from a witness who heard one of the boys yelling out his mom's phone number as he was put in the police car, they said.

Police told the outlets that officers had been canvassing the area because a 15-year-old had been punched and robbed by a group of teens in nearby Carroll Park about a half hour earlier.

“Police observed a group of teens in the vicinity and when they approached the group, the group fled and discarded a wooden baseball bat, a knife and backpacks which were recovered by police,” McCrorie told Gothamist, without specifying whether the blade was illegal or not. “Several males were stopped.”

The boys were eventually let go from the precinct hours later and police told parents that there were no charges filed against them.

Police said the three boys were charged with “obstructing governmental administration,” a misdemeanor, though parents told Gothamist they didn't know about the charge.

The Halloween incident came nearly a week after two violent arrests in Brooklyn subway stations went viral, including one where officers punched and pinned teenagers to the ground at Jay Street/MetroTech. At least one of those teens is suing the city.

Just this week, hundreds of people took to the borough's streets to protest the two subway arrests and calling out Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to add 500 more cops to the city's subway stations, saying its a way to target low-income New Yorkers and people of color.