News/Commentary

Mississippi cops learn their fate after arresting 10-yr-old who peed behind his mom’s car

August 23, 2023 | | Print Article

A Mississippi police officer was fired and others were disciplined after arresting a 10-year-old boy for peeing behind his mom’s car, but the incensed mother says it’s not good enough.

(Video Credit: WREG News Channel 3)

The incident occurred in Senatobia, Mississippi on August 10. Originally the officer who spotted the boy peeing was just going to let him off with a warning after his mother reprimanded him. But when other officers arrived on the scene, they unfathomably decided to arrest the child, sparking a massive backlash and a nightmarish PR problem for the police department.

Quantivious Eason was humiliated after being stuffed into the back of a police car and hauled off to jail simply because he needed to use the restroom. His mother was inside a law office and he was in the car with his sister when he had to go. He didn’t know if there was a bathroom nearby, so he solved it the way many little boys would, and for that transgression, he was busted and charged with a “delinquent act.”

Police Chief Richard Chandler commented that his officers had made an “error in judgment” when they treated the boy so heavy-handedly, according to the Daily Mail.

He noted that one of the officers involved is “no longer employed” and that the other officers involved were being disciplined for ignoring the department’s policies and training.

“We appreciate the public’s patience while we investigated this incident,” he stated on the department’s Facebook page Monday. “We deeply value your trust and support, and we are dedicated to continually improving and learning from our mistakes.”

The boy’s mother, Latonya Eason, remarked that the officer who engaged her son interrupted her legal consultation to inform her of her son’s relieving his bladder. That’s when he said he would let him off with a warning.

When the other officers arrived, she said the officer had a change of heart. She claimed that a furious lieutenant demanded the child be taken to the police station and be slapped with a child in need of services charge.

Eason told Fox 13 Memphis in an interview that she went to her son and asked him, “Son, why did you do that?”

Her son decided to pee behind the car because his sister reportedly told him that the legal office didn’t have a bathroom.

“He said, ‘Mom, my sister said they don’t have a bathroom there,'” Eason told Fox 13 Memphis, noting that she had planned to discipline the child.

“I was like, ‘You knew better, you should have come and asked me if they had a restroom,'” she recounted and then asserted that the officer seemed to agree with her.

“He was like, ‘Since you handled it like a mom, then he could just get back in the car,'” she recalled.

That didn’t happen and the city’s Juvenile Court had to get involved to help Eason deal with the situation.

Chandler obviously attempted damage control, giving a lengthy explanation that residents didn’t buy. He partially justified what happened, claiming that the child was not handcuffed as if that made it okay. He contended that under the Youth Court Act, a referral can be issued against a 10-year-old child if they commit acts that would be illegal for an adult.

“The officer did not observe a parent on the scene during the initial contact,” he asserted. “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 officers then transported the 10-year-old to the police station to complete the paperwork where the child was released to the mother. Under these circumstances, it was an error in judgment for us to transport the child to the police station since the mother was present at that time as a reasonable alternative,” he said, not exactly apologizing for the screwup.

Making matters even worse, Chandler revealed that the disciplinary action he took against the officers didn’t come until they received an “internal complaint.”

“Together we will move forward towards building a safer and more respectful environment for all,” he stated.

The boy was shaken over being arrested, telling Fox 13 Memphis, “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’m going to jail.”

The mother says she was “speechless” over the officers’ conduct.

“No, him urinating in the parking lot was not right, but at the same time I handled it like a parent,” she told the media outlet.

“And for one officer to tell my baby to get back in the car like it was OK 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 10-year-old kid?” she asked.

Eason is evidently planning legal action against the police department and this may well cost them a lot more than PR in the end.

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