Video of shooting and timeline posted below.
Senatobia police officer had between two and three seconds to react when he fired into a car that nearly ran over him. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety released all video of the incident. Senatobia police officer Hunter Foster's shots killed a one year-old child in the car, drawing outrage nationwide.
The police report states Tate County deputies and Senatobia police responded to a call about a man sexually harassing customers at the Walmart on June 14. Walmart employees observed Latoya Ferrell and Vellesiya Wiley trying to commit "fraudulent transactions" (Law enforcement sources said they were trying to pull the receipt scam.) to steal a large box of diapers.
Employees alerted the officers. The women ran to Ferrell's 2014 Ford Fusion and got in the car with officers in hot pursuit. Ferrell drove the car while Wiley sat in the passenger's seat holding her one year-old son, Kohen Wiley, in her lap.
Ferrell placed the car in reverse (probably panicked) and crashed into an Infiniti SUV. She placed the car in drive and sped towards the officers who were only a few yards away. Foster fired into the vehicle. Ferrell crashed into a Hyundai Elantra before leaving the parking lot.
The two women went to the Highland Hills Medical Center but the child was dead. His mother suffered critical injuries.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety released the body cam and Walmart security camera videos of the incident yesterday evening. Hunter resigned afterwards
JJ compiled the six videos into a single video and created a timeline of what takes place in each video.
Video 1: Police are in the office. Employee tells them the two women are running. The police officers run out and chase them down in the parking lot.0:22: Police yell at the women to stop the car as they try to leave in a gray sedan. The car reverses, crashes into a vehicle. Latoya Ferrell put the car in drive and drove towards the officers. Officer fires as he jumps out of the way. Car missed him by a foot or less. It was less than three seconds from when Ferrell crashes into another vehicle and nearly drives into the police officers. Ferrell flees through the parking lot.
Video 2: 0:58 Video begins in officer. Someone says the two women are running out the store. Better angle. Foster had all of two seconds to react when Ferrell crashes in reverse and then almost runs him over. Officer fires at 1:25. Car creeps, pauses, then takes off out of parking lot.
Video 3: 2:15 Employee runs in and says the women are running . Police run out in pursuit. Officer tries to pull on driver’s door handle at 2:34 . Sedan swerves in his direction, pushing him out of the way. Ferrell reverses, crashes, then drives forward towards police officers as one fires into car. Sedan flees.
Video 6: 5:03 Composite video
The case drew outrage in the minority community as well-known attorney Ben Crump assumed the role of counselor for the Wiley family. Crump and the family held a press conference yesterday at a Senatobia church less than an hour after viewing the video.
Crump said "This was excessive from the very start. They came out with guns drawn for a shoplifting misdemeanor?" However, the video shows the police officers did not draw their weapons until the Ford Fusion tried to leave and crashed into the vehicle behind it. Waving his fist, Crump expressed outrage at such treatment over a "shoplifting of diapers.One-year old baby Koley Wiley was killed over an allegation"
The attorney said the officers were not in danger as the officer fired the fatal shot into the side of the car. Crump called for an independent investigation of the incident.
The little Koley Wiley's grandmother, Veronica Roberson said "I watched the video this morning that disgusted me. First, I want to say that the word ‘justified’ have hunted me since Monday. Five officers with guns drawn at a car with two women and a baby. There’s no justification for that."
One law enforcement source said the police officer hardly had any time to react. He said training dictates preventing the vehicle from getting away once it becomes a weapon. The car could strike other officers or worse, run into someone's grandmother. Of course, the police would get blamed for not stopping it before it killed a civilian, he said. Another retired officer said he tried to look for an exit strategy but it's hard to do in a split-second situation.
Kingfish note: Actually, counselor, the child was not killed over diapers. The child was killed because two women got stupid. They decided to steal something and when facing capture, panicked as they turned the Fusion into a deadly weapon. The police officer had all of two, maybe three seconds to react. An eternity in a football game but a blink of an eye in real life.
Keep in mind the officer has to live with the fact he killed an infant, regardless of whether it was justified.
46 comments:
She shouldn't have ran but for a second it looks like she is trying to turn the wheel away from the officer to avoid hitting him. But thats just my two cents
Yes it was. A car is a deadly weapon.
Zero reason to flee in the car, zero reason to shoot into the car. Both things can be true.
The consequences of poor behavior is not racism….
Well said Kingster…this whole incident was instigated by stealing and running from law enforcement when confronted. Terribly sad all the way around.
Why are LEO pulling weapons are someone suspected of shoplifting diapers? No, I do not condone lawless behavior. But lethal force for shoplifting? So Wal-mart doesn’t take a loss? They have the make, model and license plate. C’mon, we can do better.
The immediate escalation is the problem. The crowd of officers and security running to the parking lot, guns immediately drawn. Tell me what item in the store was worth the response? They had footage, they had a tag #. The officer had already sidestepped the car. Could have easily picked them up later.
The who brings a child.... argument isn't the point. It's not about what they did, it's about appropriate response.
If the driver had stopped and surrendered when directed by law enforcement that precious baby would still be alive.
Well, they brought a child when they decided to engage in risky behavior, which exposes the child to danger. Suppose the cops had managed to tackle her and the kid was knocked to the ground, causing a head injury? Think things would be quiet?
They didn't pull the guns right away. The way I saw it, they drew on the two women when they got in the car and the car started moving. One cop told me at that point you don't know if they have weapons in the car. Once the car moves, it can be considered a deadly weapon .
BUT that is why I post the video and the police report. You and the other readers have a brain and are quite capable of watching and offering your own conclusions and I mean that in a good way.
Another unable to protect herself, innocent child lost her life due to Pro-Lawlessness/Pro-Crime, Pro-Criminal, Pro-Catch & Release, Defund the Police, Abolish the Police Democrat Party policies.
And the only time any of these Democrat Trial Lawyers give a ____ about an innocent dead child, is when that child can be exploited politically and their pockets can be lined with ill-gotten gains (the opinion writers almost never care, too worried about death row evil, Trump, etc.).
P.S. I hope I would have had the ability to not fire into a vehicle that had turned and clearly was not in the process of running over any police officer(s). But this does not change the undeniable fact that the Democrat Pro-lawlessness platform is almost always why crimes like these occur due to a total lack of respect for laws and law enforcement. The blood of these children lies within in the hands of Democrats and their Pro-Evil platform.
Ben never lets the truth get in the way of $$$
How many times can I say it to these people? JUST COMPLY!
What's in a Walmart that's worth that many officers responding?
A respecting, law-abiding society.
When you frame it as "were stolen diapers worth the loss of a life" all reasonable people would answer "no". But that ignores what happened in between.
@9:37
EXACTLY!!!
9:43 AM’s “The immediate escalation is the problem” is THE typical Democrat Evil response. Democrats will always tell you “it is never the criminals fault.”
You want to save the lives of innocent children 9:43 (we know you could not care any less so no need to answer)? Prosecute the driver for manslaughter of this innocent child due to not only the crime of theft, but the crime of running from a police office when said “police officer has a legal "reasonable suspicion" to detain you.”
9:43, prove your point please. Post up your home address so we can come take your belongings and see how willing you are to not, as you state, give us an “immediate escalation.”
I’ve never agreed with any of Ben Crump’s grift. I’m going solely based in the video I’ve watched a dozen times now. We could debate whether it is appropriate to draw weapons for suspected diaper stealing. We can agree a car can be a deadly weapon. We can agree people should not steal or put their children the middle of conflict with police. But two things I just can’t go along with here. First, officers should never pit themselves in front of a fleeing vehicle. There are zero scenarios where that’s likely to de-escalate or bring everyone home safely. Second and more importantly, it appears the shot was through the passenger side window. Even if an officer is dumb enough to get in front of a moving vehicle, once he gets out of the way, there are zero scenarios where shooting through a side window is justified for a vehicle with diaper stealers and no justifiable suspicion that there is a gun in the car. I get that officers risk their lives everyday. But they are taught to yell, cuss, and over escalate everything. They are taught to mistrust everyone, assume everyone fleeing is dangerous or might have a weapon, and we’ve spent a century training officers how to make things go as badly as possible because you never know when somebody might have a gun. How about we multiply the penalty for people who flee to ten times whatever they would have faced had they not fled. And how about the officers walk outside calmly and watch the the person run while they smile and know they just magnified their consequences when they get caught? How about let’s not kill innocent children.
You must be a police officer?
the cop shooter literally charged the car head on and now claims he was about to be ''run over''...........................................all LEO s a re trained never to attempt to stop a vehicle by charging it head on or standing in front of it. that is policy of every LEO department in this country . REMEMBER .....COPS DONT GET IN TROUBLE FOR BREAKING THE LAW....THEY GET IN TROUBLE FOR VIOLATING POLICY.
Why is the baby formula locked in a case at the front of the store in Kroger and CVS? Because of people like this stealing whatever they want and justifying it with a heart wrenching story.
Hey, don’t have the babies if you can’t afford them.
WLBT has run with this story nonstop 24/7 until I have no sympathy left for the baby. Same for Noah Wells. Beyond saturation! Stop the damn drama and emotional reporting.
How do you propose to stop perps without the use of force?
Good thing she backed her deadly weapon into a SUV and not a one year old child.
A mom can't begin training a child soon enough to shoplift at Wal Mart.
He could had easily got out of the way! There was no need for him to stand in front of the carabiner a shoplifter
The police could had handled it much better. It was only a shoplifter not a armed robbery
The police should had never stood in front of the car over a shoplifter. I could understand over a armed robbery but not over a non violent crime
There is zero scenario where anyone should be shooting into a vehicle to prevent shoplifting. Its ridiculously irresponsible as evidenced in the death of a baby in this case. We should be holding our police to a higher standard.
Why are there at least 5 officers in an office at the Walmart in the first place? Is that a permanent post for them? Why are they all hanging out in the office? Maybe have, i dunno, one posted at the door if its so imperative?
When criminal behavior becomes so much a part of a person's daily life it's easy for them to just think they are entitled to do it. The only wrong they see is in someone who tries to stop them from stealing. Then they will point a finger and say "that's wrong." If they are hurt running from the police, or resisting the police, then according them it's the fault of the police. Every time. Some people think stealing is a normal thing. And when the world shows them they are wrong, they become angry. Taking a child on a shoplifting spree was as natural to them as someone else taking a child to the store to pay for their merchandise. And driving that car into the policemen was just their way of saying they didn't think anyone had any right to interfere in their stealing.
There won't be any justice for the innocent child but such is the world, and it's a shame. We citizens can all rest assured that Walmart and the like will be served and protected.
Yes the driver was wrong for trying to drive off but we’re talking about a child being killed The police could had gotten out of the way if the car instead a cold is dead
Society needs to be held to a higher standard don’t you think? Maybe Walmart should lock up the diapers next to the baby formula.
October 23, 2026 at 10:38 AM
She should stop her car and surrender. Stop simping for criminals.
How was the officer to know that a child was in the front sear and not the back in a car seat as required by law?
Imbeciles can look at a still picture and say "Oh look, the driver appears to be turning away to avoid the cop"...as if they have greater aptitude than anyone else.
How about me driving directly AT YOU, and let me turn away JUST before hitting you and see what your attitude is then. DEAL???
When the officer fired, the driver was no longer "just" a shoplifter. She had just hit another car and was attempting to flee. The LEOs on scene _apparently_ did not know anything more than what they saw in less than 5 seconds. Suppose no one had fired and the driver hit and killed one or more children (or adults) while fleeing? Suppose no one had fired and the driver came to her senses about 20 feet later, stopped, and surrendered? Consider that most minor arrests, like for shoplifting small dollar amount merchandise, do not result in fleeing via vehicle, cars being hit, forward motion in the direction of LEOs on-foot, etc. Certainly, some folks panic and do "out of character" things, whether the cause is an attempted arrest or a monster jumping out at a haunted house. The LEOs had no way of knowing if these people were just panicked teens or hard-core bangers wanted for a laundry list of violent felonies. And they had 5 seconds to decide what to do.
Was the shot justified? Well, that is fair to debate among reasonable people. What isn't fair or reasonable is to try and mis-frame the circumstances for or against the LEO -OR- the suspects. Saying "comply and don't die!" is just as unfair, unreasonable, and stupidly wrong as alleging this was obviously nothing more than a racist white cop shooting "just a shoplifter" because he hates black people.
One observation I'd add is that for society to function as most would want it to, LEOs need to be held to a higher standard and subject to more serious punishment when they clearly transgress. But they also need to be given all possible benefit of the doubt in fast-moving, high-stress situations when it is clear that there is some justification for their action (or no evidence they acted unreasonably), pending a thorough investigation of the incident.
Who thinks these women only steal diapers. No, they've stolen from a few stores for years, most likely. In the parking lot, the driver thought she could intimidate the cop(s) into moving aside, thinking: "What can they do, shoot me?"
Why hasn't the driver of the car been charged for endangering the life of the child?
I consulted a security expert several years ago about the appropriate level of force to use when arresting an alleged perpetrator. Several things were clear.
Assess the situation and try to de-escalate it.
Standing in front of the vehicle with your weapon drawn is NOT consistent with this principle.
There was a readily available option. Stand on the side without weapons. If the car starts to leave, get in your vehicle and follow it until the person stops or is stopped by your forces, e.g., PIT maneuver. Drawing your weapon means, "I intend to shoot you unless you do exactly what I do." The driver was not a threat unless someone stands in front of the car, which LEO are trained not to do because it jeopardizes their safety.
Is firing into a car in the parking lot the only option? No, so consider another option.
RMQ
"Foster was previously accused of excessive force and civil rights violations while working at the Southaven Police Department and DeSoto County Sheriff's Office."
https://www.localmemphis.com/article/news/local/senatobia-officer-involved-shooting-hunter-foster/522-42470b25-f070-43e4-8d61-ceab91c1e62e
That IS relevant (I previously commented that racist texts by the police chief is are not relevant).
That's three incidents by this officer in less than seven years. And he stood in front of a fleeing vehicle to prevent it from leaving, which has to be against all training.
I think this deserved an investigation with use of force and policing policy experts. Then release the report.
Maybe Fitch did all that, and I'm just uninformed. But it appears to have just been stunt by Lynn Fitch to show her support for law enforcement.
Of course, once Crump gets in front of cameras all of the plaintiffs' credibility goes out the windows.
I don’t believe there were diapers in that box but other stolen goods. These two women decided their lives were more valuable than a child, police & others when they chose not to comply. Police did NOTHING wrong. If these ladies had left and killed someone if police did nothing; the SAME people would be arguing about police letting them get away & women could have killed child in car wreck.
Hunter Foster resigned to be hired by another department.
Officer Foster can now add "combat experience" to his resume.
Cops need better training. These cops mishandled this. Now a child is dead, and this cop has to live with it.
Law Enforcement is exactly that - then enFORCEment of the law - even shoplifting. Government force equals one thing - a gun. Those who aren's taught this have been neglected by their parents, and will suffer the consequences. It's like not knowing that putting your foot underneath a lawnmower while it's running is ill-advised.
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