A Jackson, Miss. couple is outraged after they say police pointed a gun at their 6-year-old autistic son while serving a warrant at a family member’s home.
The parents, Paul and Angela Thompson Roby, said they were visiting Angela’s mother when police arrived in an unmarked car looking for her brother, Carneigio Gray. According to The Clarion-Ledger, the 23-year-old was being served for failure to appear in court on a 2012 paraphernalia charge.
When officers entered the home, Ridgeland spokesman Lt. John Neal said, Gray resisted arrest. The Robys’ 6-year-old son asked the officers not to hurt his uncle. That’s when officers drew the weapon on the child, the Robys said.
“My mother was telling them, ‘Hey please don’t point your gun at my grandbaby. Please don’t do that,'” Angela Roby told reporters.
Neal said when Gray resisted, officers did put out a call for backup.
“Officers called for additional units to head that way,” Neal said. “There was potential for the situation to be violent, from the radio traffic.”
The Robys have not filed a complaint with Ridgeland, but they did contact the FBI and the Attorney General’s office.
“The family has not reached out to us, they have not filed any kind of officer complaint through our proper channels, and we haven’t heard from the family,” Neal said. “So as far as making any comments on what those allegations are, we can’t.”
“We’ve got policies and procedures for citizens to file complaints, and there are channels that are in place for citizens to lodge complaints with us to where they can be investigated,” he said.
Neal added that the department would be glad to talk with the Robys about the alleged incident.
SOURCE: The Clarion-Ledger/WLBT | PHOTO CREDIT: Screengrab
