Mississippi officer resigns after fatal shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley at Walmart
A Mississippi police officer has resigned days after the state ruled his shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was justified. The incident drew national outrage.
Officer quits Senatobia force after toddler killed in Walmart parking lot shooting
A Senatobia police officer has resigned following the fatal shooting of a one-year-old boy in a Walmart parking lot in Mississippi, cnn.com reports. Hunter Foster stepped down on Friday, just days after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch ruled that his use of force on 14 June was legally justified.
The incident began when Senatobia officers and Tate County deputies followed Kohen Wiley's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and her friend to their car outside a Walmart store. According to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the driver moved the vehicle in the direction of officers, nearly striking one of them. Foster, standing in front of the car towards the passenger's side, then fired into the vehicle.
Body camera footage released by the Department of Public Safety on Thursday shows officers shouting "Stop the car!" before the shots are fired. Separate bodycam video shows Foster telling another law enforcement official after the incident that he had not been aware a baby was inside the car.
Kohen was pronounced dead at a local hospital. One of the two women in the vehicle was critically injured.
Attorney General closes case; family and civil rights attorney condemn ruling
On Monday, Attorney General Fitch announced the conclusion of her office's review, following an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. "After a thorough investigation into this matter, there is insufficient evidence of any criminal conduct to present this case to a grand jury," Fitch said in a statement. "We are declining prosecution of this matter and will close this case accordingly."
Senatobia mayor Greg Graves confirmed to cnn.com on Friday that Foster had since resigned from the force.
Foster's attorney, Martin Zummach, said in a statement to cnn.com: "The driver of the vehicle was attempting to kill those five officers, and Hunter Foster had no choice but to discharge his weapon. We are very sad for the loss of life. But the outcome of the investigation was not only expected, but it was overdue."
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Kohen's family, rejected that conclusion at a news conference on Thursday. "This was excessive from the very start," Crump said. "They came out with guns drawn for a shoplifting misdemeanor." He added: "The bullet that killed 1-year-old baby Kohen Wiley was not justified."
Suspected shoplifting of diapers preceded the pursuit
Police had suspected Kohen's mother and her friend of stealing diapers and baby clothes, according to the Associated Press. Surveillance footage released by the Department of Public Safety shows Vellesiya Wiley holding Kohen as she and her friend left the store and ran to their car. Officers and deputies moved toward the parking lot after someone entered a room they were in to report that "two girls are running," bodycam footage shows.
A sheriff's deputy attempted to open the driver's door. The car reversed out of its parking spot, striking a vehicle behind it, before moving forward toward officers — at which point Foster fired. The women then drove away from the lot.
Kohen's mother has denied that her friend drove toward the officers, AP reported. Neither woman has been charged with shoplifting or any other offence, according to court records cited by AP.
Crump drew a direct line between the suspected theft and Kohen's death. "Diapers are something a mother needs for a child. Diapers should never cost a baby their life," he said. "This decision sends a message that a Black baby boy, his life is not as valuable as the white diapers that he is wrapped in."
Family demands accountability amid wider tensions in Senatobia
Kohen's grandmother, Veronica Roberson, said she had watched the video and believed the officers were not in danger at the moment her grandson was killed. "The word 'justified' has haunted me," she said at Thursday's news conference. "You killed my grandbaby and there's no justice for that."
Kohen would have turned two on 1 November, Crump noted.
The shooting has become the latest in a series of incidents that has strained relations between law enforcement and residents in Senatobia. Last month, former Senatobia Police Chief Harold Vanderford was dismissed following reports that he had used racist slurs in private messages, according to the Associated Press.
"We still are just troubled in our souls that a 1-year-old little angel was taken from us in such a way as this," Crump said. "America, our society, must have more empathy for human life — because baby Kohen's life mattered."
Newly released bodycam and surveillance footage obtained by Mississippi outlet Darkhorse Press, and verified by cnn.com, documented the sequence of events leading to the shooting. CNN has reached out to Kohen's family, the Senatobia Police Department and the Tate County Sheriff's Office for further comment.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)