A judge has dismissed the case against an 11-year-old Mississippi boy who was sentenced to probation after he was arrested last August for urinating in public. According to NBC News, Tate County Youth Court Judge Rusty Harlow in December initially sentenced Quantavious Eason to 3 months of probation and ordered him to write a two-page report about deceased NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
Quantavious was 10 years old at the time police arrested him in Senatobia, Mississippi. Quantavious’ mother, Latonya Eason, was at a lawyer’s office when the August 10 incident occurred. The minor’s family attorney, Carlos Moore, said the attorney’s office did not have a public restroom, adding that Quantavious was not exposed while urinating at the back of his mother’s car. The attorney also said any reasonable individual caught up in that situation would have also done the same.
But Quantavious was arrested by officers and transported to a police station. Moore said the minor later appeared before a youth court and was charged as a child in need of supervision.
In the wake of his sentencing, Quantavious’ mother declined to sign the probation agreement and requested a dismissal of the charges, highlighting that the agreement terms weren’t that different from the ones prosecutors tabled for adults. Those terms included Quantavious doing drug tests as when a probation officer deemed fit as well as an 8 pm curfew.
Moore also said that though he previously gave the green light to the probation, they “went back and asked the judge to dismiss the case in total or set it for trial” after they became aware Quantavious’ probation terms were similar to that of an adult.
The charge brought against Quantavious was ultimately dismissed by Harlow on Monday. Moore said he intends to bring a lawsuit against the city, its police chief, as well as the officers behind Quantavious’ arrest, NBC News reported. The attorney on Tuesday also said Quantavious was arrested and punished because of the color of his skin.
“I’m 99.9% sure that had he been a white child, he would not have been arrested,” said Moore.
Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler in August seemingly touched on Quantavious’ arrest in a statement that was shared on the department’s Facebook page – though he did not identify the minor. Chandler stated that a 10-year-old and several officers had an encounter, adding that the officers’ actions violated the department’s written policy and also contravened its “prior training on how to deal with these situations.”
Chandler stated that an investigation was initiated after an internal complaint was made. He also said one of the officers involved in the arrest was “no longer employed” while disciplinary action would be brought against the other officers.
