‘I wanted my ears pierced’
A dad is facing a felony charge after being arrested for piercing his son’s ear.
Video of the arrest of 45-year-old Jeremy Sherland has gone viral after being posted on TikTok, clocking up over 177,000 views.
Sherland, of Arkansas, was apprehended in dramatic scenes after what began as a Tontitown Police Department welfare check on Thursday.
The force said in a statement that it went to Sherland’s address after a Springdale High School resource officer reported a student telling classmates his drunk father “put him in a choke hold and shoved the piercing in his ear.”
Sherland, according to the New York Post, refused to let officers speak to his son – and refused to answer any questions.
Police later returned to the home with a number of officers and an arrest warrant issued by the Washington County Prosecutors Office.
In the TikTok posted by Sherland’s son, four officers were seen inside the Sherland’s home, pinning his dad against the wall and handcuffing him.
“I wanted my ears pierced,” Sherland’s son is heard yelling at officers.
Sherland’s wife is also seen trying to intervene, repeatedly asking officers why they arrested her husband.
Sherland’s son, who has not been named in media reports, asks: “Why are you doing this.”
An officer explains that Sherland is being arrested for performing “body art without a license”.
Sherland laughs at the explanation.
Officers then escort him from the address, after a brief struggle.
“It takes three cops, four cops, coming into my house with no permission. No permission and busted in my front door,” Sherland’s wife yells at the officers, as they move toward their vehicles with her husband.
“I wanted my ears pierced,” Sherland’s son says as his dad is put in the patrol car.
In Arkansas, it is illegal for artists to “perform body art on a person under sixteen (16) years of age, regardless of parental consent.”
Since Sherland was not a licensed artist, it was also illegal for him “to perform body art in any unlicensed facility”, the Post noted.
Sherland was also charged with endangering the welfare of a minor, refusing to submit to arrest, and obstructing governmental operations.
The Post said he was released on a $1,500 bond Saturday after spending two nights in the Washington County jail.
“Officers told Jeremy he was under arrest and explained the probable cause for the arrest. Jeremy refused to comply. Officers then took him into custody,” the Tontitown Police Department statement reads.
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