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A Louisiana father, Kevin Mitchell, was arrested by police in an incident that began with him cursing at his 4-year-old son in a Walmart parking lot.
Mitchell, of Slidell, a town that is slightly north of New Orleans, said he, his wife and their five children pulled up to Walmart on Feb. 21 around 6 p.m. Apparently, when his son opened the car door, he almost hit a truck and Mitchell snapped at him.
“I told my son, ‘Don’t be doing that f—ing s—,’” Mitchell told NBC News. Seated in the truck was Slidell police Capt. Kevin Swann who informed Mitchell that he can’t curse at a child and told him it’s also against the law to use profanity in public.
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Mitchell told Swann that he will father his son the way he chooses and cursed at Swann. His family took out their cellphones and began recording the exchange.
One video reportedly shows Mitchell cursing at Swann while he takes his kids inside of Walmart. “Call who the f— you want to call. You better get the f— on, b—-. You got me f—– up. These my motherf—— kids,” Mitchell says in the video, even calling the officer the N-word, according to NBC News.
Swann responds to Mitchell by commenting that this is “great country.”
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In another video, Mitchell and his family leave Walmart and face Swann and several other police officers who were called to the scene. Officers arrested Mitchell as he and Swann exchanged words, NBC reported.
Mitchell was charged with using obscene language and disturbing the peace. He was released from jail after he posting bail.
Now the father tells NBC News that what the videos don’t capture is how Swann taunted him during the exchanges. “The officer was already on 100 percent,” Mitchell told the news channel. “I kept telling him, ‘Dude, you’re picking with me.’ And he kept telling me what I can’t do in Slidell.”
“If he thought what I said to my son was disrespectful, he should have came to me as a man. If you’re respectful to me, I’m going to be respectful back. But he came off disrespectful,” Mitchell said.
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Mitchell said the incident embarrassed him and left his children feeling upset. Last Thursday, Mitchell said he filed a formal complaint against Swann with the Slidell Police Department and believes the officer should be fired for how he handled the situation.
“I feel like officers are here to defuse the situation,” Mitchell told NBC News. “This officer, he saw gas and lit a match, and that was his motive from the jump.”
In a statement, Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal told New Orleans’ WDSU that police acted appropriately and had “more than enough probable cause to arrest Mr. Mitchell.”
“We will do a full investigation into this matter by gathering all of the facts in order to determine if there were any policy violations committed by my officers,” Fandal said, pointing out that Mitchell was not arrested for cursing at his child.
“Not in relation to this particular incident, but in general, if someone is repeatedly yelling extreme profanities and racial slurs, at a public place like Walmart … and refuses to calm down and continues to carry on, causing alarm and distress to innocent bystanders… yes, they will be arrested,” Fandal’s statement added.
Mitchell said he apologized to his son for cursing at him but said he won’t be apologizing to Swann.
Mitchell will appear in court on May 4 to answer to the charges.