Armon Butler, a senior at Covenant College in Georgia, says he was harassed by officials while shopping for clothes at a mall on Thursday, Aug. 6.
Butler says he was less than 15 minutes in downtown Cobb before being approached by a group of police officers.
"When I saw the look on their faces, I knew they'd come for me," Butler described 11Alive. "I just didn't know what the problem was. And then one of them said give me your ID."
The student says he was then handcuffed and locked up without being told why.
"They never read my rights to me," he said. "They never told me why I was handcuffed until we were outside."
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When he got to the police station, Butler said an officer told him he matched a suspect's description.
Cherly Butler, Armon's mother, says she dropped her son off at the mall and drove down the street to do an assignment. Meanwhile, she received a phone call from Armon explaining what had happened.
"I turn to go to the mall and the picture of seeing my son surrounded by cops outside the mall is not a picture you would ever want to see," Cheryl told the news channel.
Cobb County Police Department says they arrested Butler until it was confirmed he wasn't the suspect. Armon, on the other hand, claims he received no apology or explanation for the way he was treated.
"It's not that they did their job, I understand they are trying to find a person who was armed," he said. "It's the fact that you met someone like me who was trying to de-escalate the situation, who didn't disregard it, who didn't fight it, when they pinned me – grabbed me – and handcuffed me. I got it all after Made the book and still treated like I was a criminal. "
Both Armon and his mother say they have had contact with the Cobb County Police Department and hope to arrange a meeting with the police chief so that such a situation does not recur.
Check out the following news clip:
