A Mississippi police officer involved in the arrest of a 10-year-old for urinating in a parking lot behind his mom’s car is no longer with the Senatobia Police Department.
Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler took to the department’s Facebook account on Monday, Aug. 21, to share the news, adding that the other officers connected to the incident will subjected to disciplinary actions.
“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 Juvenile training department-wide, just as we do every year,” the police chief said in the statement.
The announcement did not clarify whether the departing officer was terminated or resigned, and details about the nature of discipline for other officers were not provided. It was, however, noted that the officer violated the department’s training on how to engage minors during the Aug. 10 arrest.
“We appreciate the public’s patience while we investigated this incident. We deeply value your trust and support, and we are dedicated to continually improving and learning from our mistakes,” Chandler continued.
One of the mistakes made during the emotional arrest was to place the teary-eyed boy, whose name is Quantavious, in the back of a patrol car and haul him to jail. While there, he was charged not only for public urination but because he was left unsupervised. The officers did not handcuff the elementary school student.
The police chief’s statement shared details on what happened a day after the incident to the child’s mother, which resulted in the boy’s mother being arrested.
Chandler wrote that the boy’s mother, Latonya Eason, visited the SPD to discuss an unrelated civil issue. The officers were informed of her existing warrant from the Justice Court and got in touch with the Tate County Sheriff’s Office to take her into custody.
When her son was arrested, Eason was visiting her lawyer. A GoFundMe account states this visit was not related to the Tate County Sheriff’s warrant.
She was allegedly seeking “legal assistance from a local attorney because she was having a difficult time getting her kids enrolled in school due [to] their housing displacement.”
The crowdfunding campaign, set up by Mississippi On the Move, is to help the housing-insecure family find shelter. The goal is to raise enough money to pay 3-5 months’ rent, obtain utility services, and “assist with personal hygiene items and other housing things” for the family as they try to get back on track.
Within three days, the campaign raised $5,515 of $10,000. The mother also shared her Cash App and is receiving donations through that app.
While the family is looking for a new home, this incident is still at the forefront of the mother’s mind. In a WREG interview, Eason said she was considering suing the Senatobia Police Department over the arrest.
