A high school football player has been wrongly detained by law enforcement twice within 12 months. While the local sheriff’s office says they were only responding to the description given to them by a witness, the family believes the teen at least deserves an apology and an effort should be made to limit racial profiling.

Keith Robinson, a 16-year-old honors student at the American Collegiate Academy, was erroneously detained by officers in the Pasco County area in West Central Florida, on Thursday, July 21, and in September 2021, according to Bay News 9.

Both times authorities found he was not connected to the criminal activity they were investigating.

Both times he was either coming to or going to a football-related event.

Both times the officers said he fit the description given by 911 callers. In one instance witnesses said the possible criminal looked “suspicious,” and in the second instance the alleged perpetrator was Black, male, and wore a hoodie.

The most recent offense happened after Robinson was wearing a hoodie while hanging with his coach, Lenn Royal, dropping off another student at a CVS store, close to the area he was detained in.

Earlier in the day, according to Pasco County officials’ report, a witness said to investigators he was a victim of attempted robbery, and the suspect was a Black male wearing a hoodie. 

Witnesses thought the SUV the boy and coach were in was the vehicle of the suspect. Deputies moved in and approached the teen, got him out of the vehicle and handcuffed him.

“My heart started racing. I didn’t know because I heard them say it was us and I saw one cop, he had his hand on his gun holster and you never know what’s going to happen then when guns are involved,” the young man said. 

“I’m a teenager,” he added. “I’m supposed to be living my life, enjoying life. I’m a straight-A student. I’m 16. I shouldn’t be dealing with stuff like this. I’m not in the streets.”

Robinson has a right to be concerned. Minors, as young as 7 years old in Florida, can be arrested and have a record. 

The coach attempted to deescalate the situation. He explained the athlete could not have done the shooting because he had been with him at the time of the alleged crime. 

The boy was shown to the witnesses who also confirmed he was not the suspect, and he was released.

The Pasco County officials later reported that the witnesses drastically changed their description of the criminal.

“As deputies gathered more information, the suspect description changed,” the department confessed in a statement.

“Initially, witnesses claimed the suspect was wearing a white hoodie, but then changed the description to a black hoodie,” it continued, showing how botched the detainment was. “The individual identified first by witnesses that was detained briefly was wearing a white hoodie.”

After watching surveillance footage, the deputies realized the man they were looking for sped off in an SUV, driven by a white male. And the only thing he had in common was he was Black and in his late teens. 

Last year’s altercation involved him, other team members, and his coach. When the group arrived in the school’s van at a Bank of America in Tarpon Springs to use the ATM, they were believed to be bank robbers.

According to Bay News 9, all the males were Black, leaving football practice, and were accused by the police of breaking into the bank’s cash dispenser.

Royal said when they arrived at the bank, one boy went up to an ATM, but it was being used for a long transaction, so he tried another around the corner. The teen had a mask on because of COVID-19, despite the relaxed prevention mandates in the state. The Tarpon Springs Police responded to him, because he appeared suspicious, with guns drawn, treating the children like criminals

Robinson said, “They all had guns pointed at us and all. We were just walking backwards, and we had cars passing through. You know with what you see on the news and stuff, you start thinking about stuff. Like, what if somebody makes the wrong move, the wrong call, and gets shot. Just anything.”

The boys and the coach were ordered out of the van at gunpoint and handcuffed. Bodycam of the incident showed the teenage boys crying during the engagement. 

After searching the van and discovering the minors had not robbed the bank and stolen money, they let the teens and chaperone go. 

Royal says he lives in fear that maybe he or his students might not respond correctly, and the officers will justify (not just in their racial profiling) in using excessive force.

“Now I’m thinking, maybe one day, this is the second time, maybe the third time they may shoot one of my football players for accidentally getting their cameras trying to film,” Royal said. “Or I may step out of the car wrong, and they end my life.”

At the time, while Tarpon Springs police officials tried to say the group looked suspicious, giving the officers grounds to approach them, one officer after seeing footage told Bay News 9, “I think this was an overreact of color.” 

Another said. “Yeah, I do too.”

Robinson’s parents are outraged. His mother, Denise, is now asking for an apology from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office to her son. She said that is the least they can do, after causing a degree of trauma in her son’s life. She said, “At least call and say, ‘Hey, we’re sorry there was a mistake.’” 

Ivory Robinson, his father, said he wants more than words — after both incidents within one year, he wants accountability and “change.”

“Change, that’s the main thing,” the dad said. “You say you’re sorry, be apologetic, but he’s not the first one to deal with this. You can say sorry all you want but change must take place.”

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement about Robinson’s most recent detainment, explaining what happened according to the deputies’ report:

“When the first deputy arrived at the scene of the shooting, witnesses and the victim pointed out a SUV in the parking lot where the shooting occurred and stated the suspect was in the vehicle. Deputies first approached the driver of the vehicle when witnesses then indicated the suspect was on the ‘other side’ of the car, meaning the passenger side,” the department detailed. 

The statement continued, “The passenger of this vehicle identified by witnesses stepped out of the car and was detained in handcuffs. When a deputy walked with the passenger around the vehicle, witnesses then stated, ‘that’s not him.’”

“Deputies then removed the handcuffs from the passenger and gathered his information after it was determined that he was both not involved and did not witness any part of the incident. In total, the passenger was in handcuffs for less than a minute and 40 seconds and on scene for approximately 20 minutes. An adult was present with the passenger during this time.”

It concluded, addressing race playing a part in him being handcuffed, “Regarding concerns of racial profiling, the deputies on scene were told by witnesses and the victim that the suspect was a Black male in this particular vehicle in the parking lot. That changed once the witnesses saw the passenger of the vehicle.”

There is no word if the officers were able to nab the suspects in either case involving Robinson.