Arkansas police arrested a man accused of piercing his teenage son’s ear in alleged violation of state laws against various forms of “body art,” authorities said Sunday.
Officers booked Jeremy Sherland on suspicion of performing a body piercing on a minor under 16, endangerment of a minor and resisting arrest, according to a Tontitown police statement.
The investigation was touched off Thursday when the suspect’s son told classmates he had his left ear pierced, police said.
“While sitting in class talking with other students and a teacher present, the juvenile male stated his dad was drunk and put him in a choke hold and shoved the piercing in his ear,” according to the police statement.
Sherland refused to talk to officers when they first came to his home, before they huddled with Washington County prosecutors and returned to make the arrest, officials said.
Video of the arrest appeared to show four police officers pushing their way into a home and handcuffing the man.
A woman in the video demanded to know the charges before the handcuffed man threw his head back and broke out in loud laughter.
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Body art without a license! Body art without a license!” the arrested man could be heard saying.
As the man was marched around the corner and through the neighborhood, he could be heard laughing at officers
“Piercing his son’s ear without a license takes three cops, four cops?” the woman said as the camera followed the arrested man and four officers. “No permission, they busted into my front door. This is the boy right here. He got a pierced ear by his dad (and) these cops busted in my door, busted in the front door.”
A younger male’s voice could also be heard from behind the camera, interjecting: “I wanted my ears pierced.”
Representatives for the Tontitown Police Department and Washington County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.
It also wasn’t immediately clear if Sherland had hired or been assigned a defense attorney.
Ali Gostanian contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
