Jackson Free Press

A Jackson mother alleges that a JPD officer threw her child against a police car and gave his face a cut that required 11 stitches.

"I got the call at work around 3:15 p.m.," said JPS Project Seed school teacher Stacey Patrick, whose son, Timothy Scott Jones, 15, attends Blackburn Middle School. "My eldest boy said, 'Come home quick. Something's happened. It's the police.'"

According to Patrick, an April 3 exchange between Jones and crossing guard Annie Henderson prompted Henderson to call over a police officer parked nearby. "She told (the policeman) that my son was being disrespectful to her. He took my son, threw him up against the police car. The top of his mouth hit the car, and he had an eight to nine inch gash. He had to have stitches in his mouth," Patrick said.

Patrick said her son also had profuse bruising around his mouth and a bruise on the inside of his leg.

A statement from Blackburn janitor Cedric Body, who said he witnessed the incident, says the officer threw the boy against the car and kicked his legs apart, dropping the boy's books and band instrument to the street.

"I don't understand this," Patrick said. "My son has never been arrested, never been in trouble. The principal said he'd vouch for him."

Blackburn Principal Bobby Brown did not return calls on the matter.

"The principal does not want to get involved," Patrick said. "Two teachers who saw the whole incident told Mr. Brown the whole thing, and now when I ask them to do a statement, they retract it and say, 'Well, the buses were in the way. We couldn't hardly see.'"

City spokesman Commander Tyrone Lewis said JPD has no report regarding an incident at Blackburn Middle School for that day.

Patrick said she will sue the city and has hired attorney Robert Smith to handle the case. Smith represented JPD Det. Marcus Wright in a felony case involving Wright's participation in the alleged demolition of property on Ridgeway Street. The jury acquitted Wright, along with Det. Michael Recio and Mayor Frank Melton in that case.

Smith said he had made inquiries at the school about the case. "Principal Brown said he didn't think the incident that happened between the police officer and the child was proper. That was as far as I've taken the case at this point," Smith said, adding that he was busy running for Hinds County District Attorney and would likely pass the case on to one of the attorneys at his firm.

Virden Addition Neighborhood Association President Jimmie Robinson, a member of the Jackson Police Foundation, warned that skirmishes between police and citizens may rise if JPD veterans continue to retire or transfer out of the department at a high rate.

"Nowadays, there's nothing there but a bunch of rookies," Robinson said. "They have no experience. They don't have enough policemen. All the experienced policemen who would normally be training the young policemen have retired, so you don't have as much training as before."

Robinson added that the police department was understaffed and police were stressed. "You don't have any policemen in the graduating class, and when you stop and think about the actual patrols, you got about four or five beats. Some of those beats only have one officer. You need at least two officers for every beat."

Police Chief Shirlene Anderson said at a recent Jackson Police Foundation meeting that the department had 430 officers on staff. She added, however, that the number of actual officers on duty could be smaller, after accounting for sick leaves, vacations and temporary suspension of services due to the War in Iraq.

Anderson did not return calls regarding the April 3 incident.

Previous Comments

ID

67709

Comment

Was this on the news? I don't remember hearing anything about this before. There was no need to throw the boy against the car. Did this guy use to work for the LAPD or something?

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-05-17T08:26:14-06:00

ID

67710

Comment

WAIT A SECOND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shirlene was at a Jackson Police Foundation meeting? I thought she was trying to disband them. whats up with that?

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-05-17T08:47:10-06:00

ID

67711

Comment

No, L.W. I don't believe so. The mother spoke at the ACLU Town hall meeting recently, and I asked Adam to follow up.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-05-17T09:26:49-06:00

ID

67712

Comment

Well, my guess is that thanks to Adam, it'll probably be on the news now. :-) Anyway, here are a few more recent stories about incidents of child abuse: Substitute drags first grader down hall Day Care Closed; Infants Found In Utility Room Teenage father admits biting baby

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-05-17T11:28:28-06:00

ID

67713

Comment

WHAT THE HECK DID THE PRINCIPAL MEAN ABOUT NOT WANTING TO "GET INTO IT." He is the school's leader - in- chief. If he can't speak, God, who can? I agree with Jimmy Robinson about the level of stress and the fact that we are dealing with so much inexperience and pulling from a pool of people who are working without adequate pay. There is no excuse for this type of behavior; however, I continue to say that as long as frank and his cronies are doing wrongful things to Blacks and in Black communities, it will be business as usual. Just wait until he makes the mistake of crossing I55 - headed towards Carter Grove and a policeman throws a young White kid against a car. This will certainly be the end of the melton madness.

Author

justjess

Date

2007-05-17T11:51:11-06:00