A video of an Arkansas man being arrested for piercing his son's ear was posted to TikTok late last week and quickly went viral.
The police are finally speaking out about it.
The video shows police forcing entry into a home and cuffing Jeremy Sherland of Tontitown, Arkansas for "performing body art in any unlicensed facility" on a person under the age of 16, regardless of parental consent."
Sherland's son, Zethen, recorded the interaction of the four policemen arresting his father and putting him in a car, all while his mother was asking what was happening.
When the officers responded the arrest was regarding "body art without a license," Jeremy threw his head back with laughter.
His mother replied:
"Guys, chill. What is really going on here?"
You can watch the video below.
@iamnugget770 #freemyboy #fyp #copabuse #viral I pierced my ear a year ago and he got arrested because of it
Earlier this week, Tontitown Police Department issued a press release explaining their justification for the arrest.
According to their statement, the police were contacted by a Springdale School Resource Officer who reported a teacher overheard Zethen telling his friends his father "was drunk and put him in a choke hold and shoved the piercing in his ear."
Officers responded to the report and went to the residence where Jeremy admitted to piercing his son's ear, but when officers wanted to speak to his son, Jeremy refused.
The video shows the officers' return to the home where they made a probable cause arrest. When Jeremy refused to comply, officers took him into custody.
Zethen, however, told a different story, saying he wanted the piercing and "thought it would be cool."
He shared:
"Nah, I asked for it and so we just took ice and a potato and did it that way."
People on social media had thoughts about the arrest.
Several agreed with the father's reaction to the absurdity of the charge.
\u201c@SpringdalePD This is all kinds of stupid ridiculous. Mr. Sherland\u2019s laugh was epic though \ud83d\ude02 can\u2019t help but laugh at those clowns \ud83e\udd21 what a pathetic use of force. Someone involved in this targeted arrest definitely has that micro weenie energy, how sad\u201d— Springdale Police (@Springdale Police) 1682208192
\u201c@Nerdy_Addict Are you kidding me? Wow! Smdh!!!\u201d— \uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83 (@\uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83) 1682424348
\u201c@Nerdy_Addict How ridiculous\u201d— \uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83 (@\uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83) 1682424348
\u201c@Nerdy_Addict insane, stop going after parents who are good\u201d— \uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83 (@\uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83) 1682424348
\u201c@Nerdy_Addict Are you kidding? There are drug dealers giving loaded needles out. And the police are worried about this parent?Everyone of these cops need to go work for the trash department. Since this is trashy bs. And not police work. Absolutely trashy police business.\u201d— \uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83 (@\uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83) 1682424348
Many, however, feel the arrest is warranted if there is any truth to the initial report.
\u201c@Nerdy_Addict There is way more to this. The son told his friends at school that his dad was horribly drunk, hit him and held him down and put the earring thru his ear to embarass him at school.\u201d— \uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83 (@\uff2e\uff45\uff52\uff44\uff59 \ud83c\udd70\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd73\ud83c\udd78\ud83c\udd72\ud83c\udd83) 1682424348
\u201c@ladykennington Yeah, probably cuz this:\u201d— Haley Kennington (@Haley Kennington) 1682365219
\u201c@ladykennington Why were the police involved? Because the son stated stated his dad was drunk and put him in a choke hold and shoved the piercing in his ear. That would be an assault and someone in class or school reported him.\u201d— Haley Kennington (@Haley Kennington) 1682365219
Jeremy faces four charges, including endangering the welfare of a minor, refusal to submit to arrest and obstructing governmental operations.
But according to Zethen:
“My dad’s a funny guy in my opinion, very funny, and he’s a goofball."
Jeremy was released on bond late Saturday night.
