The family of a 10-year-old Black boy who was arrested and placed in a cell for relieving himself in a parking lot say they will file a federal civil rights lawsuit against a Mississippi city unless police officers involved in the detention are fired.
Quantavious Eason was detained and taken to a police station in Senatobia after an officer spotted him urinating behind a car outside a law office last month while his mother was inside getting advice on a housing issue.
LaToya Eason questioned if her son’s race influenced officers’ decision to take him away in a police car and place him in a cell for almost an hour. “Would you have put a white child in a cage? If it had been a white child, he probably wouldn’t have even been stopped,” she told a news conference this week.
I would argue against a fine to begin with. Especially for a 10yo kid. Fines like that over burden the less financially able, furthering the divide between the well off, who can pay any fine with ease, and* the poor when it comes to the impact of the punishment or deterrence for committing* the crime to begin with.