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 was at a large outdoor music festival in 2015. On Saturday night thousands of people were lined up to use overflowing port-a-potties. Naturally, I made my way to the perimeter fence to pee. A cop came up behind me, shined his bright flashlight on me and said, "It's not worth an indecent exposure charge, man."
I was alone, in the dark, facing away from the zero people near me, and this pervert approaches me and threatens me with his pervert law. Get a fucking life.
I can't remember if it is my state or county, but indecent exposure and public urination are two different things. If I remember correctly indecent exposure requires intent to expose yourself.
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.
It's a state by state issue. Here in Oregon nonsexual public nudity is legal apart from city ordinances in Portland, Eugene, Ashland and Happy Valley. Even then it's legal if you're riding a bicycle or otherwise engaging in protected speech
I don't disagree. My issue is with framing this as "hurr durr Americans are puritanical". There's more to it than that. I dont have a problem with nudity. I also don't want to walk through puddles of piss.
But you're challenging the idea of giving a 10 year old a fine instead of arresting them. You're supporting the idea of arresting a child who relieved themselves behind a car in a parking lot, intentional or not. You might want to check your pride / ego over defending your countries reputation.
No I'm not. I'm challenging the idea that skittishness about nudity is the issue here rather than public health. You want to walk around with your dick out, fine, feel free. Don't piss where I'm walking.
I call for complete freedom of toilets. No tickets, no scolding, no penalties at all for anyone peeing and pooping in public, unless there's a 24/7 public restroom within, say, 5 minutes walk.
I don't know if you've thought about the public health implications of people shitting in the streets but as a man who doesn't enjoy contracting hepatitis and cholera I disagree.
Where I live, we have 25,000 homeless people and exactly zero 24/7 public restrooms, so many neighborhoods do reek of urine and there's poop in every bush.
If you want people not peeing on the sidewalk and not pooping in the bushes, gotta give them someplace else to pee and poop.
It's the same thing. Pretty much nobody poops or pees in public if there's a restroom available, and if there's a restroom available, by all means ticket and fine anyone who's publicly pooping and peeing.
Pretty much nobody poops or pees in public if there's a restroom available
The kid in this story did. He was in the parking lot of a law office, while his mother was inside talking to her lawyer, so the place was clearly open.
I agree with the mom, they wouldn't have arrested a white kid. But unequal application of a law doesn't mean we should throw out the law it means we should apply it equally.
You act like people would want to regularly relieve themselves in public if they were allowed to. Spoiler alert: they don't. It's usually last resort, in which case I prefer that to people having to pee/shit themselves in fear of a fine or being arrested.
Well good news then, because you won't. People generally don't want to defecate in public, meaning that even if there's no punishment for it, it won't suddenly start happening left and right. Your chances of encountering human poop won't significantly increase.
Let me guess, you're an anti-masker aren't you?
Quite the opposite, I'm still wearing masks when shopping or on public transit, even when everyone else in my area seems to have stopped caring.