Police shoot 1-year-old after Mom Accused of Shoplifting Diapers | Native Land Pod

[00:00:00]Let let's go to something that has a little bit more that that that weigh that's been weighing on me all day.

[00:00:04]That's a little that has more gravity to it. Um and that's what happened in uh Cinito, Mississippi.

[00:00:11]>> Oh, whoa. Whoa. Okay. We went we weren't going light. Okay.

[00:00:15]>> Yeah. No, I uh I you know, sometimes you scrap. You got to be nimble when you're in the lead chair.

[00:00:21]>> Um but a one-year-old is is dead after police officers in Cenitobia. And if anybody is from this part of Mississippi and I am mispronouncing it, which I do often, please forgive me. Um, but he opened fire on a vehicle in a crowded Walmart parking lot. Let me just tell you as a civil rights lawyer, one of the things that you should not do as a law enforcement officer is put yourself in the line of danger or fire into vehicles or fired into crowded areas.

[00:00:52]And the police arrived after being called about a woman allegedly stealing diapers. So, let's go to the news report first.

[00:01:03]>> We don't know why it happened or whatever. All we know is that a car was shot up and a one-year-old baby was killed. A family is heartbroken after one-year-old Cohen Wy was shot and killed during an officer involved shooting at the Walmart on US51 Sunday afternoon. According to NBI investigators, the incident involved Sinatobia police officers and the Tate County Sheriff's Office. The NBI says law enforcement officers were responding to a shoplifting call. When officers arrived, they quote encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing the store. Police say when they attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. That's when an officer quote discharged their weapon before the vehicle fled at the scene.

[00:01:49]>> It didn't have to happen this way. It could have been handled differently.

[00:01:52]>> Licole Wy, a relative of those involved in the incident, says she doesn't understand how a shoplifting call could lead to a child being shot in a woman in critical condition. Coen Wy if you know the thing that always is it blows me away especially in the era we are now y'all you can expect to see more of these incidents as the um the impact and the consequence of cutting SNAP benefits other government benefits kick in especially right after the November election when health care costs skyrocket as inflation um continues to do remarkable damage in grocery store aisles bills um and on prices as gas prices continue to rise, you can expect to see more of this. People are stealing their basic needs. Mhm.

[00:02:43]>> And and I'm not I'm not excusing shoplifting, but what I am saying is what is inexcusable is shoplifting a diaper so that a baby can stay clean and healthy is not worth killing anyone, harming anyone, and especially not taking the life of a one-year-old baby in Coen Wy. It's inexcusable.

[00:03:05]The police department put out a statement and I hate when police off police departments put out statements immediately because they are never they only breed distrust because you yourself don't have all the facts because in all honesty this officer who is involved in this OIS probably has not even given a statement OIS say that >> officer involved shooting because in many of these places they have cool off periods where they can they don't have to speak or give a statement for 24 to 48 hours. Many times they speak to lawyers or speak to advocates, etc. The statement reads that the Catitobia Police Department is currently investigating an officer involved shooting that occurred at approximately 2:05 at Walmart P.M. Um, preliminary reports indicate that officers responded to a report of shoplifting which led officers to discharge their firearms.

[00:03:54]That sentence in itself to plural, >> but it should also just wreak of [ __ ] Uh the area is safe but remains closed as the investigation has been turned over to the uh Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Uh yada yada yada. We are committed to full transparency as the investigation progresses and facts are verified. We will share as much information as possible.

[00:04:17]>> It says officers plural discharging their firearms multiple people for diapers. when Mari mentioned earlier >> the idea of throwing yourself in front of a moving vehicle officers and most near near any department I've ever come into contact with their training advises that we don't do in my city we don't even allow high-speed chase >> you cannot set off on high-speed chase after folks in crowded areas why because you put the lives of all innocent bystanders of the drivers so on and so forth at risk. Now, the thing is is that these officers arrived on the scene fully aware that they were responding to a shoplifting call. There ain't but so much you can steal under your arm, on your body, in a purse, or whatever else.

[00:05:10]So, I only say that because when we think about the volume, the cost, right, which by the way, for Walmart, any of those shoplifting expenses are covered under their insurance. We're talking about the people who are what? Ranked 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th. Richest person in the world. The Waltons occupy a consecutive list at the top of the wealthiest people in this country. And this is not an context. You're the officers. You're responding to a shoplifting incident.

[00:05:40]That woman could have could have skirted out of that parking lot, been well on her way, and and not one of them should have given chase. They should have used surveillance to figure out probably where she lives and other information.

[00:05:53]>> I mean they you already know who she how big is Saratoga or so for to anyway my point is is that under no law anywhere in the United States of America does a shoplifting crime have a penalty of death sentence?

[00:06:12]>> Correct. Can can I just tell you why >> why would we pursue a individual firing off weapons, throwing yourself and your life in harm's way, not to protect anybody, but just to show that you you can do it. And the result is a dead child, a one-year-old and and and a mother who's who's trying to survive whatever the the injuries were that she sustained in this. It just doesn't make any sense. And and it doesn't make any sense by any measure.

[00:06:45]If the measure we were using were police training, police uh um protocols and accountability, they'd be square out of a job right now.

[00:06:56]>> As of two weeks ago, last the uh last year's fiscal reporting for annual revenue for Walmart was $713.2 billion.

[00:07:08]It was just dethroned this year by Amazon as the number one Fortune 500 company globally and it has remained in that spot pretty consistently since 2002. I'm not justifying shoplifting. I'm just saying >> that $73.2 billion, I don't think they were about to break a sweat over some pampers.

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