San Diego pays $225K to teen mom who lost custody of newborn

VIDEO - In 2008, San Diego police officers claimed teen mom Johnneisha Kemper was "unfit" to raise her newborn and took the child from her. Now the city will shell out $225,000 to Kemper to settle a civil suit, according to KSND-TV...

In 2008, San Diego police officers claimed teen mom Johnneisha Kemper was “unfit” to raise her newborn and took the child from her.

Now, the city will shell out $225,000 to Kemper to settle a civil suit, according to KSND-TV.

Kemper was 16 when she gave birth and filed a civil lawsuit against “San Diego County, the social workers involved, city of San Diego and the police officers who initially took the baby,” the station reports.

Kemper got into a dispute with her mother following her release from the hospital after giving birth, which resulted in her being locked out of her mother’s house with her newborn baby “locked inside.”

She called police to help resolve the dispute, but when officers arrived, they instead took her baby away. According to the now-settled lawsuit, the officers took the child “even though there was no immediate threat to the child.”

Kemper’s daughter Nyhanna is now 6 and living with adoptive parents. Shawn McMillan, Kemper’s attorney, told KSND-TV there’s nothing that can be done to reunite mother and daughter: “It’s over.”

Click here to read more VIDEO stories on theGrio.com. 

SHARE THIS ARTICLE