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Arrest of Black, 10-yr-old Mississippi boy for peeing behind his mom’s car in parking lot sparks outrage

August 18, 2023 | | Print Article

The public is outraged after a young black Mississippi boy was reportedly moved to tears last week when the police arrested for him for urinating in public.

According to the child’s mother, Latonya Eason, she stopped by her lawyer’s office for legal advice on Aug. 10th and left her son outside. While the boy was outside, a local police officer caught him urinating behind his mother’s car.

“I was like son, why did you do that? He said, ‘Mom, my sister said they don’t have a bathroom there.’ I was like you knew better. You should have come and asked me if they had a restroom. He [the officer] was like you handled it like a mom. He [her son] can get back in the car,” Eason later recalled to Memphis station WHBQ.

She added that the officer who caught her son planned to let him go with a warning, but then a lieutenant showed up and said the boy had to go to jail. Eason was stunned.

“No, him urinating in the parking lot was not right, but at the same time I handled it like a parent, and for one officer to tell my baby to get back in the car, it was okay, and to have the other pull up and take him to jail, like no. I’m just speechless right now. Why would you arrest a ten-year-old kid,” she told WHBQ.

“I started crying a little bit. They took me down there and got me out of the truck. I didn’t know what was happening. I get scared and start shaking and thinking I am going to jail,” the boy, Quantavious Eason, added.

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“Quantavious said they held him in a jail cell. His mom said they charged him with child in need of services and then released him to her,” according to WHBQ.

Eason wasn’t pleased by this.

“That could really traumatize my baby. My baby could get to the point where he won’t want to have an encounter with the police period,” she said.

This incident has since gone viral and prompted massive criticism against the local police, some of it racially tinged.

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The “good news” is that the Senatobia Police Department has somewhat apologized for the incident via a very lengthy statement purporting to explain what happened.

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“We would like to address a recent incident involving the arrest of a 10-year-old child. In situations like these, the Youth Court Act guides how officers may deal with juveniles during enforcement encounters,” the statement begins.

“The Youth Court Act allows officers to file a referral against a child as young as 7 years old if they are in need of supervision (which may also be based on delinquent acts), or 10 years old if they commit acts that would be illegal for an adult under identical circumstances (i.e., a ‘delinquent’ act),” it adds.

It continues with the writer, Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler, explaining when it’s appropriate/OK to take a child to jail.

“The need to transport children from a scene depends on a variety of factors and the availability of reasonable alternatives. In this situation, an officer personally witnessed a 10-year-old child committing an act in public that would have been illegal for an adult under these circumstances,” the statement reads.

“The officer did not observe a parent on the scene during the initial contact. The mother was located at a nearby business shortly thereafter and she was advised that her child was going to receive a Youth Court Referral for this matter,” the statement continues.

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Chandler’s statement concludes with him finally addressing the elephant in the room.

“The officers then transported the 10-year-old to the police station to complete the paperwork where the child was released to the mother. The child was not handcuffed during this incident,” it reads.

“Under these circumstances, it was an error in judgement for us to transport the child to the police station since the mother was present at that time as a reasonable alternative. Mistakes like this are a reminder in this profession as to the continual need for training and refreshers on the various topics that we encounter each day,” it continues.

The police department has since been ratioed on Twitter, with critics demanding that the involved officers be fired:

Vivek Saxena
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