Officer Peter Casuccio stopped two boys suspected of having a gun in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday. In a climate where cops are believed to use excessive force or escalate situations, Casuccio used the moment to teach the young boys the harsh dangers of playing with BB guns, according to CNN.
At 5:30 p.m., Casuccio received a “gun run” call. He approached the suspects, an 11- and 13-year-old, as one of them pulled what appeared to be a gun from his waistband and tossed it to the floor. The alleged weapon quickly broke into pieces, which indicated to Casuccio that it was a BB gun.
The officer said the exchange, which was captured on his body cam and released by the Columbus Division of Police on Monday, pushed him into “dad mode.”
“This is getting kids killed all over the country,” Casuccio is heard saying in the video. “We’re driving down the road, right? They call in and say there’s two young male Blacks…They look really young, and they just flashed a gun.”
11YO W/BB GUN- LESSON LEARNED:
Saturday, 10/13/18@5:30pm Officer Peter Casuccio was called to a gun run.
When he got to the scene he discovered it was an 11yo boy with a BB gun.
Here is their interaction as seen on Officer Casuccio's body worn camera. https://t.co/3KqZXT7jHh pic.twitter.com/rq4GowtTiJ— Columbus Ohio Police (@ColumbusPolice) October 15, 2018
The 11-year-old explained he didn’t pull the BB gun on anyone but was running around with it.