14 Yr. Old Black Girl Allegedly Beaten by Albany Police

A Livingston Middle School student says some of the blows thrown after school two weeks ago came from a few Albany police officers. 14-year-old Shenekwa Stewart is not allowed to talk about the alleged incident, but has scars on her face that tell her story. Her right eye is swollen shut and still bloody red. She says it is the result of being hit by an Albany police officer. "She was upper cut and after she was upper cut her nose and mouth were bleeding," Shenekwa's mother, Lorenda Charles said. "So of course she's spitting out blood, and the officer thought she was spitting on him. That's when she was thrown to the ground." Charles said her daughter is an honor student at the school and was one of many kids who witnessed the fights after school April 7th. She was the only one who was rushed to Albany Medical Center. Charles said her daughter is still trying to heal. "She can't look up, she can't look down, a lot of pain in her eye. She's had a lot of hemorrhaging in her eye and they've had to put her on steroids." Charles added Shenekwa will need surgery. Doctors need to put in a metal plate to support the section of her face where her bones were shattered. Albany Police Detective James Miller said an internal affairs investigation is going on. He said it was hectic outside school that day and officers were trying to get control of the people involved in the fights. Miller said there were a small amount of officers, a large amount of kids and things were tense. [more]