Stockton police have responded to a viral TikTok video that shows two officers standing by as a man forcibly places a hysterical child in the back seat of a car and drives away in what authorities describe as a custody dispute.
The video, posted Saturday, shows a police cruiser parked alongside a black four-door Honda Civic at the end of a residential cul-de-sac. Two officers stand nearby as the man — whom police say is the child’s father and has full legal custody — tries to get the screaming girl into the car.
A woman videotaping and narrating the incident walks toward the car as the father tries to force the door closed, but officers wave her back. The interaction becomes increasingly tense, as the woman circles the vehicle before confronting the man. All the while, the girl can be heard wailing in the background.
In text posted with the video, a woman identified as Brielle who describes herself as the girl’s aunt, writes that she and other family members “felt it was imperative that the public and the world know what the law” — in this case, custody law — “looks like.”
In defending the actions of its officers, the Police Department said the video, which runs about 90 seconds, “does not depict the entirety of the circumstances during the incident,” and shows only a portion of the nearly two hours that law enforcement personnel spent at the scene.
According to a news release from police, officers were called about 9:30 a.m. Friday to mediate a dispute involving the father and aunt of a 9-year-old child. Authorities did not disclose the location or the names of anyone involved.
Police said the father was involved in an altercation with the girl’s aunt before officers arrived. He had come to the undisclosed residence to pick up the girl after learning she had not been attending school, according to a news release from the department.
Things became heated. In the video, as the woman who is filming exits a two-story home and walks toward the Honda parked at the end of the driveway, the father can be seen bent over and trying to secure his daughter in the back of the car. At one point, he forcibly attempts to close the door, but it bounces open.
“You just slammed her leg in the door,” the woman shouts on the video as officers motion her to stay back.
Police officials, who say they have reviewed officers’ body-worn cameras, say the door made contact with the bottom of the girl’s shoes.
The scuffle continues, and the father is able to get the screaming girl in the back of the vehicle, the video shows. But during another interaction with the woman who is filming, the girl manages to crawl out of the car. The man then grabs the flailing child around the waist, hoists her up and stuffs her headfirst into the back seat of the car. The nearby officers do not interfere.
In the video, the girl can be heard screaming hysterically as the Honda pulls away. Two women can be heard shouting that the child was not wearing a seat belt as the vehicle leaves.
While police acknowledge the video sparked concern, they say when officers conducted a welfare check on the child and her father later Friday, “officers observed no visible injuries to the child and found no immediate safety concerns.”
“The child was calm and was observed interacting positively with her father, who was cooperative with officers,” the department said in a statement.
Officers said they forwarded reports of the incident to Child Protective Services for review. They also said the investigation of the original altercation between the father and the child’s aunt has been referred to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.