(NewsReady.com) – A Mississippi woman is suing cops after her young son was treated “like a criminal” for urinating behind her car. Latonya Eason says five officers used excessive force to arrest the ten-year-old. Now, she wants $2 million in compensation.
In August 2023, Eason parked in a Senatobia, Mississippi, parking lot and visited a nearby law office, leaving her two children in the car. While she was inside, her son, Quantavious, told his sister he needed to use the restroom and couldn’t wait. He opened the car door and used it as a cover to urinate, but a Senatobia police officer saw him. When Eason came out of the office, he spoke to her about it. She says she chastised her son, and the officer let them go on their way.
Then, she says, five officers arrived and arrested her son. They put him in a cruiser and took him to the police station, where he was locked in a cell for almost an hour. The next day, Eason visited the Senatobia Police Department to discuss another issue. Because there was an active warrant against her, they contacted the Tate County Sheriff’s Office, which detained her. A Tate County youth court has listed Quantavious as a “child in need of supervision.” He was also given three months of probation and ordered to write a book report on NBA star Kobe Bryant. Eason refused to sign the probation order.
The Senatobia Police Department admitted in a statement that the way officers dealt with the incident violated policy. Chief Richard Chandler also said one of the officers involved was “no longer employed” by the department, and the others would be disciplined. However, Eason and her lawyer are demanding the officer be fired rather than allowed to resign. She’s now filed a federal lawsuit naming the city of Senatobia, Chief Chandler, and all five officers who arrested the boy, and is seeking $2 million in damages.
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