PARMA, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) – An angry and heartbroken Ohio family is demanding justice after they say police searched a 5-year-old boy whose father had been pulled over, an incident they say left the child traumatized.
Brandon Wilson says he drove across the street to his mother’s house the night of Dec. 26 when he was pulled over by Parma Police officers. That’s when, he tells WOIO, a routine traffic stop turned into anything but routine.
Wilson’s brother captured the encounter on video in which Wilson can be seen with his hands in the air being searched by an officer. Next to him is his 5-year-old son, Brandon, who allegedly had his pockets searched by police.
In the video, the 5-year-old puts his arms in the air, but it’s unclear if he may have put his arms up because that was what his father was ordered to do at the time.
One officer says to the little boy, “Dad didn’t give you nothing, right?”
Police say Wilson was pulled over for a license plate that expired in September 2024 and for a front tinted window that was too dark. Wilson says the officer opened his driver-side door, and he asked what was going on. As he got out of the car, so did his son.
“My son right here and he’s going in my son’s pockets. I’m like, ‘Y’all shouldn’t touch him at all in the first place.’ Then y’all search my car, and there’s nothing in there,” Wilson said.
In the video, Wilson can be heard telling his son to put his hands down and go over and stand with his uncle.
Following the incident, Wilson says the 5-year-old appears to be traumatized. He says he wants his children to grow up and respect police, not fear them.
“He’s reenacting it with his toys. That’s not cool. They could have went about it a whole different way,” Wilson said. “The officers didn’t have to touch him. I don’t care what y’all do to me.”
Wilson says he did what officers told him to keep his son calm and felt he did nothing wrong. Police say he was cited then released.
Parma Police released a statement about the incident Friday, saying that during the stop a K-9 alerted for the presence, or recent presence, of a controlled substance at the front passenger side, where the child was seated.
The police department clarified that its K-9 is trained to only alert to narcotics, including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Officers do not use K-9s that are imprinted on marijuana in these situations.
The alert from the K-9 then required all occupants to be searched, according to the statement.
Police said officers did not instruct the child to raise his hands, rather the child was mimicking the actions of his father. According to the statement, an officer told the boy he did not need to raise his hands.
Officers searched the boy’s pockets and did not find anything, according to the release. The child was then released to his uncle.
Parma Police said the following about the decision to search the child:
“Our decision to conduct this search was influenced by the increasing prevalence of tragic incidents where children have been harmed or killed after accidentally coming into contact with dangerous substances. In Ohio and across the nation, there have been cases where children have overdosed on drugs that were negligently left within their reach. This is a risk our officers work to prevent. In this case, our review process has confirmed that the officer acted reasonably, professionally, and with the child’s safety as a primary concern.”
Wilson wants an internal investigation into the traffic stop because he feels there was no probable cause for police to bring a dog to search his car for drugs when he had already told them he had no drugs or guns. He and his family say they have acquired an attorney.
Wilson says he works every day, owns his home and pays his taxes. He says he deserves to be treated with respect like everyone else.
“I own my house. I pay my taxes,” Wilson said. “They just seen me and thought, ‘He looks like he’s up to no good.’”
In a statement, the Elkhatib Law Office said Wilson and his son were “unlawfully subjected” to a K-9 search, invasive questioning and violation of their Fourth Amendment rights.
The statement reads in part as follows:
“The search of a five-year-old child is particularly egregious. The police claim this was for the child’s ‘safety,’ yet the facts paint a different picture: a frightened child raising his hands and being unnecessarily searched while no evidence of danger or controlled substances was present. This was not about safety—it was an abuse of power that inflicted unnecessary trauma on an innocent child.”
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