'They Kidnapped Them': Nassau County Parents Claim Police Brutality And Wrongful Arrest Of Teen Sons

ROOSEVELT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Emotional allegations of police brutality have been levied on Long Island.

The parents of two teenagers say their sons were wrongfully charged as juveniles with assault last week. Now they're taking the Nassau County Police Department to court, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported Monday.

"They kidnapped them," David Tillery said.

Tillery was outraged and his wife was in tears after their sons, ages 14 and 15, were arrested for an assault they claim they had nothing to do with. The family said they are Boy Scouts and good students, but were racially profiled while riding bikes.

"You mean to tell me my children can't do what other children do in Garden City or Jericho?" David Tillery said.

The incident in question happened last Tuesday when school was out for exams. The brothers and a third boy were riding bikes near a Roosevelt park when police stopped and accused them.

"Beaten, slammed on a car, slammed on the ground, abused, cursed at, mocked and then psychologically tortured for four or five hours," said Fred Brewington, the boys' attorney.

"You do not have the right to come into our community and just abuse our children," mother Mondy Tillery said.

While the brothers were in police custody, their parents were in the dark.

"The police that kidnapped my two boys had me looking in dumpsters," Mondy Tillery said.

The family said they tracked their cellphones to the police precinct where, according to David Tillery, officers asked, "'Did you know that your sons are a part of a gang?' I said to them, 'the Boy Scouts?'"

The Nassau County Police Department strongly denies any wrongdoing, saying the boys were arrested 10 minutes after and blocks away from an assault on a 32-year-old Hispanic man, and that the boys not only fit a description, but that the victim positively identified them.

An investigation revealed one of the teens tried to flee.

"On Jan. 21, 2020 at 12 p.m., a 32-year-old male Hispanic was assaulted by three juveniles in Roosevelt," Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said. "An investigation was conducted and three juveniles were arrested for this crime. One of the juvenile subjects, age 15, was also charged with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration. The investigation has revealed that police officers acted within the scope of the law and exercised restraint and professionalism at the time of arrest."

Their parents, however, claim cellphone tracking proves their sons were at friend's home at the time of the crime. They're now suing the Nassau PD.

"We want their names to be cleared, and for the officers ... for them to be arrested," Pastor Arthur Mackey Jr. said.

Police stand by the charges. Internal Affairs is investigating.