A Mississippi police officer has resigned days after the state’s attorney general ruled that his use of force was justified in a shooting that killed a 1-year-old boy in June.
Hunter Foster, a Senatobia police officer, resigned on Friday, October 23. The shooting of Kohen Wiley on June 14 sparked widespread outrage and calls for accountability.
Officer resigns
Senatobia Police officer Hunter Foster has resigned. Senatobia mayor Greg Graves told CNN about it on Friday. City clerk Katie Harbin said Foster turned in a resignation letter.
This comes just days after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said the officer’s use of force was justified.
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The shoplifting call
The shooting happened on June 14 in Senatobia, a small town about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Officers had gone to a Walmart after a shoplifting call.
According to CNN, it was around 2pm local time on a Sunday. Kohen Wiley’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, was holding him as she and her friend left the store. Surveillance video released by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS) shows them appearing to run to their car.
As per AP, police believed the women had stolen diapers and baby clothes. Kohen’s mother has denied this. As per court records, reports that neither woman has been charged with shoplifting or any other counts.
The moments before the shooting
According to CNN, two bodycam videos show that officers and deputies ran toward the parking lot after someone came into a room they were in and said “two girls are running.”
Bodycam footage shows a sheriff’s deputy trying to open the driver’s door of the car. An officer yelled “Stop!” and the driver reversed out of the parking spot. The car hit another car parked behind it.
Officers yelled again. The video shows the car appeared to move toward at least one officer. Then Foster shot into the car.
As per the Tate County Sheriff’s Office, the women then drove away from the parking lot. According to DPS, Kohen was pronounced dead at a local hospital. One of the women was critically injured.
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What police said
A DPS statement at the time said: “Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one,” as per CNN.
Different bodycam video shows Foster later told another law enforcement official he couldn’t see a baby was in the car.
Foster’s attorney, Martin Zummach: “The driver of the vehicle was attempting to kill those 5 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.”
According to AP, Kohen’s mother has disputed that her friend, who was driving, drove toward the officers.
Attorney General closes the case
As per CNN, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation looked into the case. The Attorney General’s office announced on Monday that it had finished its review.
“After a thorough investigation, into this matter there is insufficient evidence of any criminal conduct to present this case to a grand jury. We are declining prosecution of this matter and will close this case accordingly,” Fitch said in a statement.
Family and lawyer push back
According to CNN, civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Kohen’s family criticized the decision 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.”
“The bullet that killed 1-year-old baby Kohen Wiley was not justified,” he added.
“Diapers are something a mother needs for a child. Diapers should never cost a baby their life,” Crump said Thursday. “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.”
As per AP, Crump has said a preliminary independent autopsy shows Kohen was shot from the side of the car, not the front. This goes against the officers’ claim that the car was heading toward them.
Kohen’s grandmother, Veronica Roberson, said she watched the video and feels the officers were not in danger.
“The word ‘justified’ has haunted me,” she said at the news conference. “You killed my grandbaby and there’s no justice for that.”
“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,”
