Did an officer’s bullet kill infant in fatal I-10 chase? Why Biloxi police won’t say
The results of a forensic test on the bullet that killed an infant during a police shooting with the baby’s father are in, but authorities are not yet releasing the information.
“You know, I can’t discuss that,” Biloxi Police Chief John Miller told the Sun Herald, citing the ongoing independent investigation the agency is handling.
The shooting happened May 3 after Gulfport police, Mississippi Highway Patrol state troopers and Harrison County deputies started chasing the baby’s father and double homicide suspect Eric Derell Smith, 30, of Baton Rouge.
The pursuit started after Smith’s blue Nissan Altima crossed state lines into Mississippi with his 4-month-old boy, La’mello Parker, in the car with him. Smith had kidnapped his son, authorities said, and had the baby in his lap or in the front seat during the pursuit.
Once Mississippi law enforcement used spike strips, Smith continued to drive at speeds as low as 10 mph. When the car got stuck in the grassy median just west of the Woolmarket exit, Smith opened the car door, and the shooting started.
Videos from drivers on the interstate show officers fired over 20 rounds into the car. The shooting started early on, Miller said, after Smith shot at the officers.
Smith died of gunshot wounds at the scene, and the baby died a day later at an Alabama hospital.
What the incident report says
Biloxi police are independently investigating the shooting since Gulfport police, Harrison County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers were involved in the shooting.
In response to a records request form the Sun Herald, an attorney for Biloxi police provided three pages of an incident report, but excluded two other pages cited as being exempt from public disclosure because they are investigative reports.
The redacted report shows that Mississippi authorities got involved after they received a May 3 complaint from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office.
The incident report contains only one sentence: “known subject (Smith) was a wanted fugitive from justice and discovered to be in possession of a kidnapped child.”
The name of the victim is redacted but is listed as a missing person. Louisiana police had identified the baby as kidnapped and missing that morning.
‘Increase transparency’
The kidnapping took place after Smith reportedly shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, Christin, and her nephew, at their home just outside of Baton Rouge in rural Baker. The baby was at the home at the time, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said.
Since the baby’s death, members of Black Lives Matter Mississippi and the Biloxi chapter of the NAACP have demanded access to police reports and videos that show exactly who is responsible for the baby’s death.
“It is important that local authorities proactively work to increase transparency and grow public trust,” the NAACP said in a statement.
Members of Black Lives Matter Mississippi are organizing another protest Sunday outside the Gulfport Police Department to again demand accountability and justice over the baby’s death, said group president Reginald Virgil.
Biloxi police have not said whether there is any body camera footage of the shooting. The results of the investigation will be turned over to the Harrison County District Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 2:39 PM.
