A Black mother is upset after a squad of police officers showed up and detained her 10-year-old son for public urination. Latonya Eason told FOX 13 that the Senatobia Police Department in Mississippi went too far when they arrested her child, Quantavious Eason, last week.
The incident happened on August 10 while Eason was seeking legal advice from the Senatobia attorney's office. A police officer then notified her that Quantavious was urinating behind her vehicle.
"I was like son, why did you do that? He said, 'Mom, my sister said they don't have a bathroom there,'" she recounted. "I was like you knew better, you should have come and asked me if they had a restroom. He was like you handled it like a mom. He can get back in the car."
The cop was going to let the family off with a warning, but a bunch of officers suddenly pulled up, according to Eason. That's when a police lieutenant reportedly told her he had to go to jail for what happened. The boy said he was left in tears.
"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," Quantavious told reporters. "I get scared and start shaking and thinking I am going to jail.”
Eason claims her son was held in a jail cell and later released. He was reportedly charged with child in need of services and received a youth court referral.
"I'm just speechless right now. Why would you arrest a ten-year-old kid," his mother said. "That could really traumatize my baby."
Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler issued a statement to FOX 13 over the incident. While he explained the process of dealing with children, he relented that taking Quantavious to the police station was an "error in judgment."
"The child was not handcuffed during this incident," the statement reads in part. "Under these circumstances, it was an error in judgement for us to transport the child to the police station since the mother was present at that time as a reasonable alternative. Mistakes like this are a reminder in this profession as to the continual need for training and refreshers on the various topics that we encounter each day."
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