PITTSBURGH, July 16 (UPI) -- A 6-year-old Pennsylvania boy tried to remove a gun from the holster of an officer questioning him and two other boys about an attempted bike theft, police say.
The boy, Chalais Ramey, said he walked toward the officer and "tried to take the cop's gun," WPXI-TV, Pittsburgh, reported Monday.
Police said the boy was still holding on to the gun and began kicking and screaming when the officer lifted the boy away from him.
The officer put the boy in the back of a patrol car. When told his mother was on the way, the boy lunged at an officer and bit him, police said.
Ramey claimed the officer "slammed" and "choked" him while putting him in the patrol car.
A witness, Michael Chernosky, said the officer did not handle the child in an abusive manner.
"They weren't getting rough on him." Chernosky said. "The kid was only so big."
The child's mother, Lisa Miller, criticized the alleged police treatment. "It was not right for him to reach for the gun, but it was not right for a cop to do what he did to my son," she said.
Police said the 6-year-old received some cuts on his face. He was treated at a children's hospital and a psychiatric institute.
Ramey's 5- and 10-year-old brothers were with him at the time of the incident.
