The mother of a
10-year-old Mississippi boy who was arrested will not sign a probation
agreement because, in her opinion, the terms are very severe for a child and
are typically reserved for adults, Carlos Moore, the family’s lawyer, said
Thursday.
The 90-day
probation agreement stipulates that the boy
1) Must go through random drug tests
2) Must not leave his house after 8 p.m.
3) Must meet with a probation officer once a month
4) Must write a two-page report on Kobe Bryant, the famous American professional basketball
player who died in 2020.
FACTS
The legal battle started on Aug. 10 in Senatobia, Mississipi.
The boy was waiting
for his mother in her car, which she had parked outside an office while she was
in a meeting inside
The boy saw no
public restrooms nearby and he could not wait. So he got out of his mom’s car,
opened the door, turned his back to the road and discreetly urinated behind the
car.
A police officer
saw the boy, and went inside the office to get his mother. When she came
outside, she told her son “You must not do this! It’s wrong. We’ll talk about
this at home"
The situation, she
thought, was over.
Then four more
police officers, including a lieutenant, arrived.
The lieutenant
ordered the police officers to take the boy to the police station in the patrol
car. At one point, the boy was alone in a jail for an hour while the paperwork
in the case was processed.
POLICE CHIEF
Days after the
arrest, the Senatobia police chief, Richard Chandler, said:
“It was an error in
judgment for us to transport the child to the police station in the police car,
because the mother was present and had her car.That was a reasonable alternative,” the chief said.
Chandler admitted that the officers didn't follow their training on how to handle kids. He said one of the officers was "no longer employed," and other officers will be disciplined.
LEGAL SITUATION
Mr. Moore, their
lawyer, said that it was a wrongful arrest.
The boy’s family is planning to sue the city and the police department in both federal and state court.
RELEVANT OR NOT?
The lawyer thinks this happened because the officers were white and the
boy is black. He believes it was unfair treatment because of racism.
Photo Credit...The Tate Record/The Tate Record, via Associated Press
Article from The New York Times (edited)
