Five videos from the June 14 police shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in a Senatobia, Mississippi Walmart parking lot are now public. Darkhorse Press released three body-camera clips and two Walmart surveillance videos days after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office ruled the officers’ use of force justified. The footage shows officers with guns drawn ordering the driver to stop as the car backed out, then the driver hitting an officer and a parked vehicle before police fired. It is not clear from the video which officers fired.
On the body-camera audio, one officer is heard saying he never saw a baby in the car, a statement that appears to contradict the mother’s earlier account that she lifted Kohen to show officers he was inside. The family’s independent autopsy, requested after their attorneys pushed for one, ruled Kohen’s death a homicide in July. Attorneys Ben Crump and Van Turner are renewing calls for all surveillance video to be released, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation continues its case review.
The case has drawn national attention, but it hits home here on the Suncoast too. So many of us have driven to a store with a child in the back seat without thinking twice about it. Does the state’s justification ruling match what you see in these videos? We want to hear from you on air.
