The Nebraska toddler who was seen in a video swearing at adults egging him on is now in protective custody, CNN reports.
According to Omaha police, while there was nothing illegal going on in the video, the force’s Child Victim Unit and the Nebraska Child Protective Services took the toddler in the video, in addition to three other children, into custody on Wednesday due to safety concerns, according to the department’s Facebook page.
The investigation started after a union from the area, the Omaha Police Officers Association, posted the video to their site, labeling it "The Thug Cycle." The organization acknowledged in their post that nothing criminal was taking place but still called “flat out immoral and completely unhealthy” for the child involved.
The association ultimately was subject to backlash for singling out the African-American toddler, who is still in diapers, and unnecessarily antagonizing the city’s minority communities, according to CNN. However, its leadership insisted that wasn’t its intent.
"The focus here isn't on any particular ethnic group. The focus here is on the troubling behavior towards this child," Union president Sgt. John Wells said. "This behavior is going to potentially lead this child down a path that is completely unhealthy."
In the short clip, the toddler can be heard repeating a slew of profanities, encouraged by the adults around him who bombard him with slurs.
"Shut up, b—-h," he can be heard saying. At one point he flips his middle finger to the adults, who are not seen on the screen.
“What hood you from?” one adult can be heard asking.
According to Wells, one of the local street gangs is mentioned in the video.
"That is why when we talk about the culture, the criminal culture, that this is to try to break the cycle and deal with the culture of violence and the culture of gang activity," he said, according to CNN.
However, Willie Hamilton, president of the activist group Black Men United, is standing up for the toddler, saying that the union "crossed the line" by insinuating that the child would end up part of the perceived "thug cycle."
"For them to take a video out of context—a 2-year-old who doesn't have the brain capacity to know what's going on—and to say that this child, because two adults acted inappropriately, is going to end up in a life of crime is totally inappropriate," Hamilton said.
Read more at CNN.
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