DETROIT (WSVN) — A mother in Detroit gave her 12-year-old son a lesson in tough love, in what she says is an effort to keep him from a life of crime.
The mom, who only wanted to be identified as Tameka, said she saw her son on surveillance video released by Detroit Police of the robbery of a disabled man.
An acquaintance called her and told her they spotted her son in the video. Upon searching for the video online, she said she was dismayed at what she saw.
“He cried to me all last night, ‘I’m sorry mommy, I don’t know what happened, it happened so fast,'” Tameka told WXYZ.
She said she called Detroit Police to turn her son in after watching the attempted robbery.
“He was involved. It was something I had to do,” she said.
The victim, a 56-year-old man with a disability, was eating alone at a restaurant when he said three young men asked him for money. He gave each a dollar, but the older one wanted more, and tried to steal the man’s wallet.
A struggle ensued, and the video shows Tameka’s 12-year-old son and his 13-year-old friend help the oldest in the group, a 20-year-old man.
“I want him to learn a lesson from this, I want him to put this behind him,” she said. “I’m sorry, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I know my son is sorry too.”
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