Omari Grant
© WSB-TV11-year-old Omari Grant had a gun in his face while playing with his friends.
Henry County - A group of children building a tree fort in a wooded area near their home were accosted by foul-mouthed, gun-wielding police officers who treated them "as if they were robbing a store."

Omari Grant, 11, and several of his friends were off playing together in a wooded area near their subdivision. On that day earlier this March, the boys decided to build a tree fort in the woods out of some branches and sticks.

A busybody neighbor witnessed the boys removing tree limbs and promptly called 9-1-1 for a police response.

Several officers from the Henry County Police Department arrived, and one came running with his gun already drawn, the children said according to WSB-TV.

The boys were allegedly proned out on the ground and cussed at by armed agents of the government.

"He was crying," said his mother, Janice Baptiste, to WSB-TV. "All he could get out at the time was, 'Mom, he had a gun in my face.'"

She continued: "I got him to calm down. Then he told me how they had them down on the ground, and they had to spread their legs, as if they were robbing a store."

Young Omari explained to a reporter how he survived his first experience with the police. "I was thinking that I don't want to be shot today, so I just listened to what they said."

Allegedly the 9-1-1 caller was concerned about "falling hazards, tripping hazards, all types of hazards...and concern for the environment." The hazard that was least considered was the fact that involving the government in trivial disputes promotes the possibility of all sorts of excessive reactions and state-sanctioned violence.

Responsible citizens should be very cautious before involving the police - in anything. A concerned neighbor could have just as easily walked over to chat with the boys on their own, or perhaps minded their own business. Luckily no one was killed by such carelessness, this time. Hopefully the lesson lingers on in the neighborhood, and in the hearts of those who hear this story.