A troubling video from 2019 showing Baton Rouge police officers restraining a teenager while his mother administered corporal punishment has ignited a fierce debate about law enforcement’s role in parenting. The footage, first obtained by a local TV station, depicts Officers Adam Rhodes and Jermaine Javius physically holding down a 14-year-old boy while his mother struck him with a belt after a questioning session about a drive-by shooting.

The police claim the mother initiated the punishment and requested their assistance. According to Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse, the officers complied with her wishes, ensuring the act stayed within the bounds of the law. “Officers did comply with her request and held the 14-year-old male down,” Morse said, adding that the department found no wrongdoing on their part. Critics, however, have pointed to comments caught on video in which Officer Rhodes appears to encourage the mother to take action, even advising her on how to stay within legal limits.

The incident has sparked significant backlash, particularly from Ryan Thompson, the now 19-year-old’s attorney, who has filed a complaint with the department. Thompson accuses the officers of coercing the mother into the punishment to extract information from her son, using the beating as leverage. “In no situation do courts authorize officers to hold a child down in the name of getting information,” Thompson said, likening the episode to abusive interrogation tactics.

Public reaction has been sharply divided. Many social media users applauded the officers for what they viewed as a practical approach to addressing juvenile misconduct, with one commenter calling it “the most productive thing I’ve seen the police do.” Others, however, criticized both the officers and the mother for creating a potentially traumatizing situation. “As a mother, you protect your kid,” one user wrote. “Not go against him with two white guys and allow them to hold him down!”

The video, which concludes with the boy seemingly ready to talk to the officers, has prompted calls for greater accountability and clearer guidelines for law enforcement intervention in family discipline. While some argue that the officers were acting in the community’s best interest, critics see their actions as an overreach of authority, raising larger questions about police conduct and juvenile rights.