COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Armon Butler, a rising senior at Covenant College, a Christian Liberal Arts College in northwest Georgia, was shopping for school clothes at the mall on Thursday when he said he was rushed by officers.
The college student said he had been inside the Town Center at Cobb for less than 15 minutes when he was approached by a group of officers.
"When I saw the look on their faces, I knew that they were coming for me. I just didn’t know what the problem was. And then one of them said give me your ID," explained Butler.
He said that shortly after the officer looked at his driver's license, he was handcuffed and detained without being told why.
"They never read me my rights. They never told me why I was being handcuffed until we got outside," said Butler.
He said once he was taken outside, an officer told him that he matched a description of a suspect that Georgia State Patrol was looking for who had run from a nearby traffic stop.
Butler's mother, Cheryl Bulter had dropped him off at the mall and drove down the street to run an errand. She said her son called her and told her what was happening.
"I turn to pull into the mall and the visual of seeing my son surrounded by cops outside of the mall, it’s not a visual you ever want to see," explained Cheryl.
According to the Cobb County Police Department, they detained Butler until Georgia State Patrol confirmed that he was not the suspect they were looking for. Their spokesperson said Butler was immediately released.
But Butler and his mother say they never received an apology or any explanation for the way he was treated.
“It’s not that they were doing their job, I get they’re trying to find an person who was armed. It’s the fact that they ran into someone like myself who try to deescalate the situation, who didn’t disrespect them, who didn’t fight them when they pinned me up – grabbed me – and forced me into handcuffs. I did everything by the book, and I still got treated like I’m a criminal," added Butler.
The mother-son duo say they have been in contact with the Cobb County Police Department and are working to set up a meeting with the chief of Police to make sure something like this doesn't happen to anyone else.
11Alive reached out to GSP that told us there was a traffic stop near the mall Thursday afternoon and that they are looking into the details. 11Alive will provide an update when we receive more information.