Video captures young boy hiding from cops while shooting hoops

A young boy was caught on video hiding from a passing police car as he was playing basketball outside his Connecticut home — telling his dad that he took cover “because they killed George Floyd,” according to a report.

The footage shows 10-year-old Eliah dribbling a ball as the patrol car drives by, prompting him to hide behind a vehicle until the perceived danger was over, CBS News reported.

“Why does he feel like he has to hide when he isn’t doing anything wrong?” the child’s father, Stacey Pierre-Louis wrote on Instagram, where he posted the clip, which caught the attention of NBA superstar LeBron James.

“Breaks my Heart!!” the hoops legend wrote on Twitter.

Pierre-Louis, a resident of Trumbull, said he debated whether to share the video.

“I was at work watching my son shoot hoops in the driveway when I caught this. It floored me,” he wrote.

“I’ll save the dramatics, but growing up black or brown most of the time means fearing the police vs looking up to them,” Pierre-Louis continued. ”I live in an affluent neighborhood in Trumbull with a really good school system. This kid has all the opportunity to do/be whatever he wants unlike many kids who look like him because resources aren’t made available.

“I asked him why he did that when he got home. He replied; ‘because they killed George Floyd.’ Stunned, I replied; ok kiddo. I didn’t know what and still don’t know what to say to him to make it better,” he added.

Pierre-Louis said a manager at his job told him to let Eliah know that “what he did is ridiculous” and to teach him not to fear cops.

“Deep down I don’t know if it’s true, maybe staying out of the way is best,” he wrote. “He didn’t learn this behavior at home. We stream movies so he doesn’t see the news and we don’t talk negatively about police.”

Pierre-Louis, a client adviser at a local BMW dealership, told CBS News a few days later that his son was “doing well,” adding that he was “optimistic that this can add to making a change for the better.”

“Since I’ve shared this video, I’ve been overwhelmed with support which leads me to believe that there is far more good in this world than there is bad,” he told the network Tuesday.

“So it is our hope that this video can be used as a tool to help continue to bring us together in this fight and inspire change for the better,” he said.

Pierre-Louis added that he felt “helplessness” when he first saw the video.

“But unfortunately this is the reality for millions of Black and minority children across this nation and the world,” he told CBS News.

“My priority as a parent and family man is to protect my son and children from the atrocities and injustices of the world and provide them with the tools to be whole, productive and fearless contributing members of the world,” he said.

“Unfortunately, in the state of times and for reasons we all see daily, it makes it difficult. But as many parents are doing, I can only continue to educate and prepare my son with the truth and arm him with the tools to continue to create change. It’s my hope that when he becomes a man, he’ll then be able to do the same for his family.”

Pierre-Louis added that Eliah was shocked that King James weighed in.

“My son was over the moon to see that his favorite player noticed him and that LeBron saw him playing,” he told CBS News. “The first question he asked is if LeBron saw that he made the shot at the end of the video!”