Cops in Michigan have arrested a 12-year-old boy after they saw him playing with his cousin and hitting him with a stick.

Police had been called to the Grand Rapids neighborhood of Baxter in response to reports of a large fight on Friday evening.

That’s when an officer said he saw Carreion Baker, 12, running with a wooden pole and hitting a man with a stick. But Baker’s family and other residents claim the child was playing with his cousin and had no involvement in the fight.

Carreion Baker, 12, was arrested after police saw him running after his cousin with a stick while they were responding to reports of a large fight in his neighborhood in Grand Rapids

His mother Bernice Jones told Fox 17 that police overreacted to the situation.

She said: ‘My son was playing with one of his cousins, ya know, chasing him down the street like he always do.<

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‘They started chasing my son. I’m telling, “Wait. Hold on. That’s his cousin. He’s playing.” You know, ‘He’s only 12.’

‘Cops came from nowhere, so many cops and I’m telling them he’s only 12, it don’t take all of you cops for a 12-year-old.

The handcuffs were removed from Baker once he got into the police cruiser and his mother was asked to follow them to Kent County Correctional Facility.

Police say he began to resist arrest and kicked the officer when they tried to find out his age.

He was taken into custody for resisting and obstructing a police officer and disorderly fighting.

Baker’s mother Bernice Jones said the child had no involvement in any incident and was just playing with his cousin on the street, when he was spotted by an officer on the way back

The boy said he tripped and grazed his knee as he was running, which is when the officer arrested him.

But residents claim the incident was blown out of proportion and the child was clearly playing and not causing any trouble.

Neighbor Ted Jauw said: ‘There was some sort of an altercation going on there, there were police cars parked across the street all along the street.

‘As they were coming back from whatever had been settled over there, this kid was running across the street. But he wasn’t running from anybody, he was running and chasing his cousin.

‘The biggest thing was nobody was de-escalating,’ Jauw added.

Ted Jauw issued a lengthy post on his Facebook page to community leaders about the incident titled ‘Arresting children.’

In it he said: ‘Many many people there shouted to the officer that he was only twelve.

‘That it was his cousin he was chasing. It did not matter, he was picked up and handcuffed, and began struggling through tears as more and more officers surrounded him and, finally as they closed in, he kicked one.

‘Not hard but, I am sure he was afraid for his life and they converged on him.’

Grand Rapids Police Department responded with their own statement on the incident.

They said that when the officer reached the youth on the ground, he placed his hands on the youth’s back and asked him to stop.

The statement added: ‘Not knowing the youth’s age or the circumstances of what was going on, the officer placed the youth in handcuffs.

‘The youth then began to resist the officer. A large crowd already in the neighborhood observed this and became upset that a 12-year-old was being arrested.

‘This required the assistance of additional officers until the circumstances surrounding the situation could get sorted out. While being taken to a police cruiser, the youth kicked officers.’

The statement added that the officers on scene used their discretion to not arrest the 12-year-old for felonious assault or assault on a police officer, but rather the least serious offenses of resisting and obstructing a police officer and disorderly fighting.