Mother of MS boy detained for public urination files $2 million lawsuit
SENATOBIA, Miss. (WREG) — The mother of a 10-year-old boy who was detained in Senatobia, Mississippi for public urination has filed a $2 million federal lawsuit Wednesday against the city, police department, and the officers that were involved.
The child was detained in August 2023 for public urination after police witnessed him relieving himself in an attorney’s private parking lot.
ORIGINAL STORY: 10-year-old taken to jail in Mississippi for urinating in public
After the incident, Senatobia’s police chief announced one of the officers involved in the child’s arrest was no longer employed and the other officers would be disciplined.
A Youth Court Judge ruled in December that the 10-year-old boy would serve three months probation and have to write a two-page book report on the late basketball star Kobe Bryant or be designated a “child in need of supervision.”
However, a judge dismissed the case earlier this month.
Case dismissed for MS boy detained for urinating in public
Thursday, Attorney Carlos Moore, alongside his client Latonya Eason, put the City of Senatobia and it’s police department on notice.
“This happened in Mississippi, this happened in America, and we’re here to say, ‘Senatobia, City of Senatobia, you have to pay for what you did,'” Moore said.
The lawsuit lists eight counts, including excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment, Mississippi state law claims for negligence, State law claim for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress/bystander’s claim, failure to train and supervise, Mississippi state law claims for false arrest and imprisonment, respondeat superior, violation of 14th Amendment rights, and malicious prosecution.
“He gets to the point where he sees police officers and he just starts shaking…he’s frightened. He’s really traumatized behind this,” Eason said.
Eason is asking for compensatory damages in the amount of $2,000,000 and punitive damages “in an amount sufficient to punish Defendants for the intentional, malicious, callous, bad faith, willful, wanton, negligent and reckless misconduct alleged in this Complaint.”
“This young man was in Senatobia and he discreetly urinated in the City was arrested, put in a police cruiser, taken to jail, and put in a cage as he called it, a jail cell, from between 45 minutes and one hour,” Moore said. “This happened in August. This is now February. We’re here in Black History Month and we take the rights of these black citizens seriously.”
Eason and Moore pledge their fight for justice is just beginning.
“Senatobia, you can pay me now or you can pay me later but trust me, you will pay this family,” Moore said.
We reached out to Senatobia’s mayor and the city attorney for a response to the lawsuit but have not heard back. We also went by the police headquarters but were told no one was available to talk with us.
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