Four-Year-Old Tells the Truth; Saves the Day

[Content Note: Racism; guns; theft; police harassment.]

Check out this awesome kid: Four-year-old Abby Dean of Washington was home alone with her 17-year-old babysitter when the sitter's boyfriend and another man entered the home, brandishing weapons and ordering them out of the house while they stole a bunch of stuff, including Abby's Xbox, Wii, iPod, and kitty bank.

When the police arrived, the sitter, who'd hatched the plan with her white boyfriend, told police that she'd never seen the thieves before, but that they were black men, one of whom looked a black neighbor named Cody Oaks. Oaks was immediately taken into custody for questioning.

Police handcuffed Oaks and questioned him for hours. It was Abby, however, who told police that he couldn't be the robber. "It wasn't the right skin color," said Abby. The robbers she saw, she said, were white men.

When police confronted the sitter with that detail, the 17-year-old broke down and confessed to the crime.

Abby's mother, Jennifer Dean, said she's proud of her daughter for telling the truth. "Literally in 30 seconds she changed everything that had been going on for five, six hours," she said.

Neighbor Cody Oaks is angry to have been unfairly targeted by police acting at the sitter's direction.

"It's kinda sad 'cause I don't think she realizes the dangerous position she put me in," he said.

Abby happily reported that all of her belongings have been returned. "They got it back because of me being the superhero," said the girl.

As awesome as this kid is, her shitty babysitter and her thieving dude pals are inversely awesome. By which I mean fucking terrible.

I don't think she realizes the dangerous position she put me in. She literally could have gotten this man killed, which is to say nothing of how she didn't give a fuck if he was arrested and convicted for the crime of which she was accusing him. Which is almost certainly for what she was hoping, so her boyfriend could get a free Wii.

And then there's this: The police questioned Oaks for hours because a white teenager said a robber looked kind of like him, and only released him when a white child said it couldn't have been him. I'm curious whether he was alone at the time and had no alibi, or whether the people who could vouch for him were also POC.

I'm also curious why the police didn't even ask the only other witness to the crime to verify the babysitter's details, before taking Oaks into custody.

Ha ha just kidding. I know why.