2023-09-09 13:27:00
(CNN) — A Mississippi mother is asking for an apology and firing of several Senatobia Police Department officers after her 10-year-old son was arrested for urinating in a parking lot.
LaTonya Eason, mother of 10-year-old Quantavious Eason, said she was on a date Aug. 10 at a business and her son, who was outside, saw a sign that said there were no public restrooms, so she decided to do her business. needs on private property near his vehicle, Eason told reporters Wednesday during a news conference with his attorney.
A police officer passing by saw the boy, he explained. He stopped and entered the business looking for Quantavious’s mother, he said. Eason said he admonished his son for his behavior and the officer seemed satisfied.
She thought the ordeal was over.
“I said, ‘Well, you know, don’t let it happen again.’ The cop said, ‘You handled it like a mother, just make sure he doesn’t do it again. He can go back in the car,'” Eason explained.
Four more Senatobia police officers then arrived, including a lieutenant, according to Eason. She said her son was arrested, put in a police vehicle and taken to a police station.
Eason said the arresting officer said he had to take action. “He said, ‘Yes, I have to arrest him.’ He can’t do that.’ He made my son get out of the car, told my baby to put his hands behind his back, and they took him to the patrol car.” Senatobia is located in northern Mississippi, less than 30 miles south of the Tennessee state line.
Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler said in a statement that the boy was not handcuffed during the incident.
“An officer personally witnessed a 10-year-old child commit an act in public that would have been illegal for an adult under these circumstances,” Chandler said in the statement, which was posted on Facebook.
The boy’s mother was not present when the incident occurred, according to Chandler, but once she was located, “she was informed that her son was going to receive a referral from Juvenile Court for this matter. “The officers then transported the 10-year-old child to the police station to complete the paperwork where the child was released to the mother,” the statement said.
Attorney Carlos Moore, who represents the family, told CNN that Quantavious was charged in Juvenile Court with child in need of supervision. Moore also said the boy was held in a cell at the police station for between 45 minutes and an hour. CNN has contacted Senatobia police for comment.
LaTonya Eason questioned whether race played a role in the incident. “Would you have put a white child in a cage? “If he had been a white kid, he probably wouldn’t have even stopped,” she said at the press conference.
In the statement on Facebookthe police chief said: “It was an error of judgment on our part to transport the child to the police station as the mother was present at the time as a reasonable alternative.”
“The officer’s decisions violated our written policy and went against our prior training on how to deal with these situations,” a separate statement from the police department said. The incident triggered an internal investigation and “as a result of this investigation, one of the officers involved is no longer employed and the others will be disciplined. “We will also have mandatory youth training throughout the department, just as we do every year.”
Moore and the family are demanding an apology and that the police chief, the lieutenant on the scene and the arresting officer be fired. The family also wants the arresting officer to be named and charges against Quantavious dropped.
Nearly a month after the incident, Moore told CNN that Quantavious, 10, “is distraught and now afraid of the police, and will begin receiving psychological therapy.”
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