Public urination is by no means a good suggestion, however arresting an harmless baby for doing one thing like that’s possibly taking the legislation a bit too severely. Sadly, that’s what occurred to a ten yr outdated in Mississippi, Fox Memphis experiences.
On August tenth, Latonya Eason stopped by an legal professional’s workplace in Senatobia, MS for some authorized recommendation. Her two youngsters, a daughter and her 10 yr outdated son Quantavious, waited within the automotive whereas she was within the workplace. Sooner or later, Quantavious wanted to make use of the restroom, so he obtained out of the automotive and went to pee behind it. On the identical time, a Senatobia Police officer simply occurred to be passing by and caught the child peeing behind the automotive.
However it was no biggie; Latonya mentioned the officer was simply going to present them a warning: “I used to be like son, why did you do this? He mentioned, ‘Mother, my sister mentioned they don’t have a toilet there.’ I used to be such as you knew higher, you need to have come and requested me if that they had a restroom. [The officer] was such as you dealt with it like a mother. He can get again within the automotive,” she mentioned to Fox Memphis. It wasn’t an enormous deal — till different officers turned concerned.
Eason mentioned a number of different officers confirmed up, together with a lieutenant who mentioned that Quantavious needed to be arrested and brought to jail for peeing. Eason admits her son shouldn’t have peed, however she says arresting him over it was doing an excessive amount of.
“No, him urinating within the car parking zone was not proper, however on the identical time I dealt with it like a mum or dad, and for one officer to inform my child to get again within the automotive, it was okay, and to have the opposite pull up and take him to jail? Like no. I’m simply speechless proper now. Why would you arrest a ten yr outdated child?” she mentioned.
Quantavious mentioned he was scared and began shaking when the officers took him to jail. As soon as there, they held him in a cell, charged him with “baby in want of companies” after which launched him to his mom.
As for the Senatobia Police Division, Fox Memphis reached out to them in regards to the quotation, and its police chief launched a assertion that admitted that arresting the kid whereas his mother was current was a mistake, however provided no apology. As a substitute it simply reiterated that Quantavious broke the legislation:
We want to handle a latest incident involving the arrest of a 10-year-old baby. In conditions like these, the Youth Court docket Act guides how officers might take care of juveniles throughout enforcement encounters. The Youth Court docket Act permits officers to file a referral towards a baby as younger as 7 years outdated if they’re in want of supervision (which can even be primarily based on delinquent acts), or 10 years outdated in the event that they commit acts that may be unlawful for an grownup below equivalent circumstances (i.e., a “delinquent” act). The necessity to transport youngsters from a scene is dependent upon a wide range of components and the provision of affordable options. On this state of affairs, an officer personally witnessed a 10-year-old baby committing an act in public that may have been unlawful for an grownup below these circumstances.
The officer didn’t observe a mum or dad on the scene in the course of the preliminary contact. The mom was situated at a close-by enterprise shortly thereafter and he or she was suggested that her baby was going to obtain a Youth Court docket Referral for this matter. The officers then transported the 10-year-old to the police station to finish the paperwork the place the kid was launched to the mom. The kid was not handcuffed throughout this incident. Below these circumstances, it was an error in judgement for us to move the kid to the police station for the reason that mom was current at the moment as an affordable different. Errors like this are a reminder on this occupation as to the continuous want for coaching and refreshers on the varied subjects that we encounter every day.
