Corey Jackson was taken into custody at the Cumberland Mall in Cumberland, Georgia, on October 6. The 12-year-old, better known by his rap name, Corey J, was grabbed by an officer inside the malle before being arrested. Jackson posted a video of the incident to his Instagram account earlier this week and that video is now going viral.
“You’re 12? You’re about to go to jail,” the officer can be heard telling Jackson, while holding his arm. Jackson was charged with felony obstruction, misdemeanor obstruction, and criminal trespassing, according to NBC News.
The video above was taken on October 6 by Jackson’s aunt, who was also charged after allegedly getting physical with the officer involved. She has been charged with felony obstruction, giving false ID, criminal trespassing, and misdemeanor obstruction.
“It’s jusssss like this! When God is blessing you, tha Devil is always rite around tha corner to seek & destroy. Tha fact that he snatched me & was trying to drag me around like I’m sum criminal that’s stealing, robbing or killing or sum is #Crazy. But tha worst part is he trying to charging me with a #felony putting my hands on a #PoliceOfficer he say I tried to brake (sic) his fingers, he say I cussed him & he say I pushed him! Where in this video do it show I did anything but tell him I know my rights & then when he proceeded to try and drag me my auntie stepped in & got in between us to get tha #Police off me, cause he was treating me like uh lil rag dog he can sling around…. All #Police is not bad, a lot are good friends of mines. But it’s some of you that do not deserve to be in a #PoliceUniform & this guy is clearly 1!!! Right is Right / Wrong is Wrong!! #CobbCounty #Police We must get to tha bottom of this… I’m just a kid out here standing for tha right & Motivating other kids in a positive way. Why try to destroy & bring me down!?!?” Jackson captioned the video, which he posted two days ago.
It’s unclear why Jackson was spoken to by the police officer in the first place. According to a family friend, Jackson “wasn’t hurting anyone,” nor was he breaking any kind of rules while at the mall that day.
“I mean he’s 12, he’s not harming anyone. He shouldn’t have been treated like that,” Toya Brown told NBC News. She added that the Jackson family would be hiring a lawyer.
“A more thorough investigation will ultimately show the facts that we all need to make a final determination if that (arrest) was justified or not,” Cobb County Police Chief Mike Register said, according to NBC News. “During that interaction, the juvenile continued to be verbally resistant to give any information. A lot of people said he (the officer) was handling (the child). The officer, all he was doing was holding the young man by the arm,” Register added.
Jackson rose to fame in 2017, after an appearance on The Ellen Show.