Officer resigns after Mississippi shooting kills one-year-old during getaway
Officer Hunter Foster resigned from the Senatobia Police Department after Mississippi authorities cleared him of criminal wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of one-year-old Kohen Wiley. The case has drawn attention because the child was killed during an attempted getaway after his mother and her friend were suspected of shoplifting, and footage of the encounter was released this week.
Police suspected the women of stealing nappies, but neither has been charged in connection with the incident. Authorities said the car moved towards officers as they surrounded it; Foster fired several shots, killing Kohen and critically injuring Latoya Ferrell. Foster’s lawyer said he believed the driver was trying to kill officers and that Foster had no choice but to shoot; Ferrell’s sister said her recovery remained uncertain.
In short
- Hunter Foster resigned after being cleared over the fatal shooting.
- One-year-old Kohen Wiley was killed outside a Mississippi Walmart.
- The women suspected of shoplifting have not been charged.
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The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The strongest case for Foster is that officers may use force to protect themselves and others from an imminent threat. If the car was moving towards officers and he reasonably believed the driver intended to kill or seriously injure them, firing could be seen as a necessary split-second response, even with the tragic risk to a child in the car.
The case against
The strongest case against the shooting is that lethal force must be necessary and proportionate, and the presence of a one-year-old made the foreseeable consequences especially grave. Critics may question whether officers could have moved clear, used another tactic or waited, and argue that an uncharged suspected theft did not justify a response that killed a child and critically injured his mother.
Explained simply
Senatobia is a city in northern Mississippi, in the United States. Police there responded to a suspected shoplifting incident involving Latoya Ferrell and a friend, who were in a car with Ferrell’s one-year-old son, Kohen Wiley.
Police shootings can be examined separately under criminal law and by an officer’s department. In this case, authorities assessed whether the officer’s use of force amounted to a crime, while the department could also consider his conduct as an employment matter.
The case raises questions about how officers should respond when a vehicle moves towards them, and how the risks to people inside it are weighed. Kohen was killed and Ferrell was critically injured; neither woman has been charged over the suspected shoplifting.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Officer who shot and killed baby outside Walmart after his mother and friend ‘shoplifted’ quits the force”.