A 10-year-old Black child who urinated in a parking lot must serve three months' probation and write a two-page book report on the late NBA star Kobe Bryant, a Mississippi judge has ordered. Tate County Youth Court Judge Rusty Harlow handed down the sentence Tuesday after the child's lawyer reached an agreement with a special prosecutor, per the AP. The prosecution threatened to upgrade the charge of "child in need of supervision" to a more serious charge of disorderly conduct if the boy's family took the case to trial, said Carlos Moore, the child's attorney.
"I thought any sensible judge would dismiss the charge completely. It's just asinine," Moore said. "There were failures in the criminal justice system all the way around." The child's mother has said her son urinated behind her vehicle while she was visiting a lawyer's office in Senatobia, Mississippi, on Aug. 10. Police officers in the town of about 8,100 residents, 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, saw the child urinating and arrested him. Officers put him in a squad car and took him to the police station. Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler said the child was not handcuffed, but his mother said he was put in a jail cell, according to NBCNews.com.
Days after the episode, Chandler said the officers violated their training on how to deal with children. He said one of the officers who took part in the arrest was "no longer employed," and other officers would be disciplined. He didn't specify whether the former officer was fired or quit, or what type of discipline the others would face. The 10-year-old is required to check in with a probation officer once per month. Moore said he doesn't believe a white child would have been arrested under similar circumstances. "I don't think there is a male in America who has not discreetly urinated in public," Moore said. (More Mississippi stories.)
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