Mississippi cop who shot 1-year-old boy in Walmart parking lot resigns

The police officer who fatally shot a 1-year-old boy in a Walmart parking lot in Mississippi has resigned from the department, the city’s mayor confirmed on Friday, days after state authorities cleared him of criminal wrongdoing.Sgt Hunter Foster shot and killed Kohen Wiley on June 14 while responding to an incident outside a Walmart store in Senatobia, about 65 km south of Memphis, Tennessee.The Mississippi attorney general’s office concluded earlier this week that Foster’s use of force was justified after a months-long investigation, the Associated Press reported.The state released body-camera footage of the shooting on Thursday, showing the moments leading up to the fatal encounter. According to an investigation report cited by AP, officers were at the store for an unrelated incident when a Walmart employee alerted them that two women were running from the store.The footage shows Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, holding the child as she and another woman enter a vehicle in the parking lot. Five officers approach the car with their guns drawn. The vehicle reverses, crashes into a parked car and then accelerates forward.Foster steps directly in front of the moving vehicle with his gun drawn. As he jumps out of the way, the car’s wheels appear to turn away from him. He then fires, shattering the front passenger-side window, where Kohen was sitting on his mother’s lap. The vehicle continues moving away.Foster’s attorney, Martin Zummach, has defended the shooting, saying the officer had “no choice” but to fire because the vehicle was moving towards him. In another body-camera recording, Foster tells an officer that he did not see a baby inside the vehicle.However, Kohen’s mother has disputed the claim that the driver moved towards the officers. The women have not been charged in connection with the alleged shoplifting, according to AP.Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the child’s family, has also challenged the officer’s account. He said the fatal shot came from the side of the car, disputing the claim that Foster was in imminent danger. An independent autopsy commissioned by the family reached the same conclusion.Kohen’s family and their legal team have called for a federal investigation into the shooting. At a news conference on Thursday, Crump criticised the officers’ actions and described them as excessive.The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office said on Monday that its review found the use of force justified. The Senatobia Police Department said the investigation had found insufficient evidence of criminal conduct to present the case to a grand jury.Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves confirmed Foster’s resignation on Friday. Kohen would have turned two in early November.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.