Atlanta Police have removed a boy from his home after a video emerged showing him being physically and verbally abused. In relation to the incident, three people have been arrested after it appeared the word gay had been cut into the side of his head.
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The video, recorded from an Instagram Live on June 17, shows family members striking the young boy and the haircut given to him, supposedly as a punishment.
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The Atlanta Police Department has said that 35-year-old Brittney Monique Mills, 19-year-old Lorkeyla Jamia Spencer, and 18-year-old Jarrode Richards-Nwankwo were the three arrested. Mills and Spencer are being charged with cruelty to children, while Richards-Nwankwo has been charged with cruelty to children and battery-family violence.
"The behavior in this social media post was difficult to watch and is absolutely unacceptable. We are appreciative of the number of people who flagged this case with us and for those who provided information on the location where it took place," APD said in a statement. "Our investigators worked hard to identify those involved and to gather the evidence needed to place each behind bars, and we are thankful for their work."
Authorities removed the boy from the home a day after the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services received the video.
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A city council candidate, Devin Barrington-Ward, for where the boy's home is located, spoke to the boy and his mother last month, according to 11Alive. He said they talked "about what had taken place, about some of the challenges that she's had as a single mother of eight and about some of the challenges raising a young Black queer child in poverty."
He went on to talk about his own experiences.
"As a Black queer man, I have experienced some of the same homophobia and some of the same abuse by the hands of people that I love as a child," he said. "If you saw that and you didn't see anything wrong with that, you're part of the problem."
Barrington-Ward said the child was stressed emotionally from the experience and from the idea of being removed from his home.
"He expressed appreciation for the support but also made it clear that he wasn't happy with what happened to him," he said.