A Senatobia, Miss. youth who was taken into custody back in August for urinating in public has been placed on probation for three months, and ordered to write a report about Kobe Bryant, his idol. Quantavious Eason made headlines over the summer when the third-grader was arrested for emptying his bladder behind his mother’s car in a parking lot. The family’s lawyer Carlos Moore has indicated that the boy will not be declared delinquent or in need of supervision, and the incident will not be used to create a criminal record.
Eason allegedly asked his sister if there were any public restrooms in the area, and she said no. The first officer on the scene initially spoke with Eason’s mother and she agreed that she would teach him why peeing in public wasn’t appropriate and they were free to go. He was getting back in the car when further officers and a lieutenant arrived on scene and said that the boy had to be arrested and taken to jail for his crime.
“No, him urinating in the parking lot was not right, but at the same time I handled it like a parent, and for one officer to tell my baby to get back in the car, it was okay, and to have the other pull up and take him to jail? Like no. I’m just speechless right now. Why would you arrest a ten year old kid?” the boy’s mother told Fox Memphis.
Moore stated that the family will not be appealing the decision. “He will not have a criminal record, this is probation. And he is a fan of Kobe Bryant, so he doesn’t mind writing the two-page report,” he confirmed. “But still, the principle of it,” he continued, “he should not have to do anything. He should be enjoying his Christmas holiday like the other kids.”
The Senatobia, Miss. police chief issued a statement calling the arrest an “error in judgement” and that it “violated our written policy and went against our prior training on how to deal with these situations.” Is an officer of the law really serving and protecting their community by traumatizing a young boy and wasting thousands of dollars of taxpayer money in this ridiculous charade? Was it really necessary to hold a ten year old in a jail cell for wetting some cement instead of his pants?