Family of baby killed in I-10 chase and activists demand answers at Gulfport Police Dept.
Noelle Nolan-Rider is haunted by memories of the day she got caught up on Interstate 10 and saw Mississippi law enforcement officers fire over 20 rounds into the car of a double murder suspect who had taken his 3-month-old hostage.
Rider’s account of what happened was shared during a news conference Wednesday outside the Gulfport Police Department.
The infant’s family and members of the Biloxi NAACP, Black Lives Matter Mississippi, Yo Gulf Coast, Mississippi Rising Coalition and ADOS Mississippi joined together to demand action, accountability for the killing and transparency from law enforcement.
Rider was headed west on I-10 from Ocean Springs with her family the day of the May 3 shooting and realized something dangerous was going on when a number of police cars raced past her near the exit to the Promenade shopping center.
She wanted to get her family out of harm’s way, but law enforcement had shut down all the exits and on-ramps to the interstate.
“We were forced to drive into a dangerous situation,” she said.
Law enforcement vehicles were in a low-speed pursuit of Eric Derrell Smith, who had his 3-month-old son, La’Mello Parker, in the car with him. The father was was on the run after allegedly killing the baby’s mother, Christin Parker, and her nephew, Brandon Parker, at their home near Baton Rouge.
After Smith drove into the median near the Woolmarket exit, officers fired over 20 rounds into the car.
A demand for answers
Various eyewitnesses captured video of the shooting with their cellphones.
La’Mello’s uncle, Jeremy Parker, and members of the Coast organizations that joined them Wednesday want to law enforcement to account for their actions that day, including why traffic wasn’t diverted off the interstate when the pursuit began.
“Why were all the on ramps and off ramps shut down, forcing us into a dangerous situation?” Rider said. “Why won’t (Coast law enforcement) release the video? Why wasn’t a SWAT team called in with a sniper? Why wasn’t there a hostage negotiation with a kidnapped child in the car?”
“Who authorized the use of deadly force knowing a kidnapped child was in the car? The situation haunts me. I would have never thought their would be such disregard for public safety or the life of a kidnapped baby.”
Gulfport police, Mississippi Highway Patrol state troopers and Harrison County sheriff’s deputies were involved in the shooting. Biloxi police are handling the ongoing independent investigation.
Whose bullet killed La’Mello?
At Wednesday’s press conference, group members and the family outlined a list of demands for law enforcement to provide transparency and accountability for what happened that day.
Chief among the demands is for authorities to say whether the bullet that killed La’Mello came from an officer’s gun.
“The facts we do know about the circumstances and actions that led up to La’Mello’s death are thanks to video and accounts from eyewitnesses,” said Lea Campbell, president of Mississippi Rising Coalition. “We know that patrol cars and helicopters from GPD, HCSO, and MHP swarmed the disabled car La’Mello was in.
“We know at least a dozen armed officers exited their vehicles and pointed their weapons at the car. We know officers unleashed a barrage of bullets toward the car within seconds. We know that no attempts at deescalation, negotiation or preservation of the lives inside that car were made, and La’Mello, a helpless 3-month-old infant, is dead.
Reginald Virgil, president of Black Lives Matter Mississippi, said it’s time for law enforcement to be held accountable for their actions.
“We are the community members of the neighborhoods these officers patrol and police,” he said. “We don’t feel safe or respected when police act with the excessive force and disregard for life and public safety...
“Worse, the law enforcement agencies involved have not been transparent with us when we voice our concerns and frustration and try to get answers. We are the taxpayers who pay their salaries. Black lives matter. La’Mello’s life mattered. Our lives matter.”
Will anyone face charges?
James Crowell, president of the Biloxi NAACP, said states like Texas and even Mississippi seem to be more interested in trying to save the lives of unborn children by trying to ultimately end abortions but appear to pay little attention when a baby is shot and killed following a police pursuit.
“I’m here today because I was totally upset about what happened to the young baby,” Crowell said.
Thanks to eyewitness videos of the shooting, Crowell said, the public saw firsthand “an innocent child” being shot and killed ...without any protection at all and without any warning.”
“That ....really turned me off that there was no consideration for that child’s life,” and four months after La’Mello’s death police have yet to be transparent about what happened.
“I know that (La’Mello’s) family is hurt to have three of their family members killed in one day,” he said, but it’s time for authorities to provide some answers to the public.
It’s time, Crowell said, for the public “to find out if anyone if anyone is going to be indicted for what happened to this child.
List of demands
The groups spelled out a list of demands of law enforcement and want immediate action.
Immediate demands:
- Release all body camera footage, audio and other reports to the public and family.
- Update the family and the public on the status of the investigation into officers involved in the shooting.
Within 90 days, the family also asked for a joint meeting with Gulfport and Biloxi police, Harrison County Sheriff’s Office and Mississippi Highway Patrol to discuss the following:
- Establishment of civilian oversight structures with disciplinary, personnel and policy establishment powers
- An end to racial profiling and implementation of training to end implicit and racial bias
- Civilian oversight in review and redefining of use of force and de-escalation policies and practices
- Enactment of policies allowing for mental health crisis response teams to participate in response to hostage, kidnapping, domestic disturbance and other 911 calls where mental health could be a factor
- Civilian oversight in review and redefining of policies around transparency, particularly public access to body-cam footage, incident reports, police misconduct and use of force registries.
- Civilian oversight in investigation of officer misconduct and defining and implementation of disciplinary protocols, including permanent revocation of professional certification for officers found in court to have used inappropriate force, preventing them from being re-hired in other agencies in Mississippi
- Civilian oversight in review and redefining policies around how officers interact with people under the age of 18.
What happened on May 3
Three-month-old La’Mello died of a gunshot wound to the back, the coroner has said.
His father drove from Louisiana into Mississippi before police pursuit began on Interstate 10 in Gulfport.
Law enforcement officers used spike strips to flatten the tires on Smith’s car. He drove as slow as 10 mph at times, and the pursuit ended when Smith drove into the interstate median near Woolmarket.
Biloxi police said in a press release that Smith was getting out of his car and “shots were fired,” but in eyewitness videos, it’s unclear what Smith did.
What is clear in the video footage is Mississippi law enforcement officers firing over 20 rounds into the car.
Gulfport police, Harrison County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers were involved in the incident. Biloxi police are handling the ongoing independent investigation.
Over the weekend, La’Mello’s relatives, Jeremy Parker and Lashunda Parker, along with La’Mello’s four siblings attended a fundraiser at the Kroc Center in Biloxi to help the Parker family.
Since the baby’s killing, Black Lives Matter Mississippi and the Biloxi NAACP have demanded transparency in the shooting along with accountability for what happened to La’Mello.
Those requests have not been met.
Instead, the groups said in a news release, law enforcement agencies “have attempted to obfuscate, deflect from and defend their actions on May 3, which at worst, murdered an innocent three month old infant, and at best, were a blatant and negligent demonstration of a lack of proper training and execution in deescalation and preservation of life.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 9:26 AM.
