N.J. Boy, 10, Tearfully Claims Cops Pulled Shotguns On Him: VIDEO

A 10-year-old boy in New Jersey is claiming that local police officers chased him down an alley and drew their guns on him in a case of mistaken identity, reports say.

The boy’s mother, Patisha Preston, is alleging that on Aug. 14, her “fun-loving child,” Legend Preston, was forever changed when multiple Newark police officers chased him with loaded shotguns while pursuing an armed robbery suspect.

Her son told ABC news that he was shooting hoops at a nearby basketball court when the ball rolled into the street. The boy said that he ran after it, and when police came his way, he initially thought the officers were chasing after him because of the ball. But Preston said that when he saw the shotguns, he took off running into his backyard.

Newark police say they had their guns drawn but never pointed them at the 10-year-old while they pursued him. Police later found and arrested the suspect they were pursuing — 20-year-old Casey Joseph Robinson — whom they charged with armed robbery, ABC reported.

But Legend’s mother says that the police account of events doesn’t tell the whole story.

“The man they were looking for was over six feet [tall] with long dreadlocks,” Preston wrote in a social media post. “[But] they yelled ‘he fits the description!’”

Preston wrote that during the incident, her neighbors came together to form a “human shield” around her son in an effort to protect him.

She posted the below video of her shaken son, which was filmed after the alleged incident.

“Anybody that knows my son knows [that he doesn’t cry],” Preston wrote. “He is the ring leading of noise [in our home], and now he won't stay off his father’s hip. [He’s] scared when his father leaves for work or he goes to play outside… He says ‘They tried to kill me mommy’… As a child, this will stay with him forever.”

In the days after the alleged incident, Preston shared additional updates about Legend and her allegations via social media.

Photo used with permission of Patisha Preston