The fatal police shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley has renewed scrutiny of the Senatobia Police Department, with residents pointing to previous encounters they say raised questions about the department’s use of force.
Among those incidents is a 2023 confrontation involving local barber Mark Lesure. Video from the encounter has resurfaced following Wiley’s death and shows officers surrounding Lesure’s home while responding to a reported shooting.
Lesure was inside his home cutting hair when police arrived. Officers were searching for a person they believed had fled into the residence.
Police Chief Goes Hands On
Cellphone footage showed several officers outside his home with guns already drawn. The video captured then-Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler entering the home and putting his hands around Lesure’s neck.
Lesure told Fox 13 Memphis, the confrontation began after a child came into the home to evade an encounter with police.
“My girl’s son was getting out of school when he came through the door and said that the police had hollered for him to come here,” Lesure said. “So, he was kind of he was afraid of the police, and he just came into the door.”
Lesure said he then stepped outside and saw officers surrounding the property.
The situation soon moved inside. Video shows Chandler walking toward Lesure before grabbing him around the neck. Officers attempted to use a Taser on Lesure during the struggle, but one of the officers accidentally struck Chandler. Chandler then forced Lesure to the ground, where officers continued using force before handcuffing him.
Despite being the person seen being restrained, Lesure said he became the one facing criminal charges.
“Well, I ended up getting charged with assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and other things that they trumped up,” he said. “Trumped-up charges is trumped-up charges. I was at home cutting hair out the way. And all of this, all of this aggression came toward me and my home.”
Lesure also said the video was crucial to his ability to challenge the account of what happened.
“Well, if this was not caught on video,” Lesure said, “I wouldn’t have any — I wouldn’t have nothing to fight with.”
Body Cam Footage
Senatobia police later released body-camera footage and a statement account of the encounter.
Chandler wrote that officers reportedly responded to a shooting and saw a suspicious person run into Lesure’s home. He described the residents as allegedly having a previous history of aggressive behavior toward law enforcement.
Police said people inside the home were ordered outside. But Chandler said officers then attempted to secure the residence while seeking a search warrant. According to his account, one person refused to follow commands, raising concerns about officer safety and the possible destruction of evidence.
The body-camera footage shows an officer ordering people inside to come out slowly with their hands raised. Lesure can be heard questioning police and telling them to put their guns down.
“Nawl, you tell me what’s going on. Get off the side of my house,” Lesure said in the body cam video. “Put the guns down. Get your hands off the motherf—k gun.”
The person police were searching for eventually walked out of the home. Someone could be heard shouting, “That’s a child,” followed by, “F—k wrong with you?”
Police ultimately arrested Lesure and two other people, including a juvenile. Chandler said officers later searched the home and recovered a stolen military-style rifle, Schedule I narcotics and drug paraphernalia. Police also towed a retired school bus that was illegally parked in the yard.
Lesure clarified that he had been cutting a child’s hair when police arrived. He was reportedly charged with possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, assault on a law enforcement officer and having an expired tag. He continues to maintain that police assaulted him and that the charges were unjustified.
The encounter continued to follow Lesure after the arrest. He appeared before the Senatobia mayor and Board of Aldermen in February 2024 to raise his concerns. The following year, the board voted 3-2 against reappointing Chandler as police chief.
Old Allegations, New Scrutiny
Although no civil lawsuit connected to Lesure’s encounter has been publicly reported, the 2023 confrontation is now being revisited as Senatobia faces renewed questions over police conduct following Kohen Wiley’s fatal shooting.
His case also adds another layer to the questions now surrounding a department facing fresh scrutiny after the death of a 1-year-old.
As previously reported, the police shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley began with a reported shoplifting incident at a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi. Kohen was inside a vehicle with his mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and Latoya Ferrell after the women were accused of taking baby clothes and diapers from the store.
Police confronted the women after they entered the vehicle. According to Wiley, officers had their firearms drawn as they surrounded the car. She said she was holding Kohen at the time and tried to raise him when the vehicle started moving so officers could see that a young child was inside.
Wiley said the moment quickly turned chaotic. She recalled hearing three or four rounds of gunfire after lifting her son.
Authorities have not made video of the encounter public. Body-camera recordings and surveillance footage from the Walmart remain withheld as the state investigation into the shooting continues.
