Arkansas police were caught on camera entering a family home to arrest the father, after he pierced his son’s ears – with the clip of the arrest going viral.
Jeremy Sherland, 45, of Tontitown, is seen mocking and laughing in the video as five police officers arrest him at his home, while his wife and son protest.
Sherland is heard to say, “Unlicensed body art!”
His son, who films the encounter, yells at the police at one point: ‘I wanted to get my ears pierced!’
The situation started when the boy was seen in class with a piercing in his left ear.
He was overheard saying his father was drunk and put him in a chokehold, after which he “shoved the piercing into his ear,” police said.
Jeremy Sherland, 45, of Tontitown, Arkansas, was arrested Thursday and spent two nights in jail on charges of piercing his son’s ear
Sherland, in the bright yellow T-shirt and cap, is forced out the door in handcuffs
a The Springdale Police College resource officer contacted the Tontitown Police Department on Thursday about conducting a welfare check.
Tontitown agents went to the family home and Sherland admitted to piercing his son’s ear, but would not let them talk to his son or answer questions.
Police then returned with an arrest warrant issued by Washington County Prosecutor Matt Durrett.
Arkansas law prohibits “performing body art on any person under the age of 16, regardless of parental consent.”
It is also illegal to “perform body art in an unlicensed facility.”
Violation of this law is a class D misdemeanor.
Sherland opens the door for the police on Thursday. They spoke to him earlier in the day, but when he refused to question his son, they returned with a warrant for his arrest
Officers are seen tackling Sherland and handcuffing him
Sherland laughs wildly as he is told the charges against him, while his wife, in the Pirate T-shirt, speaks to officers
The video, which has gone viral, shows four officers arriving at the house and Sherland being arrested on Thursday.
Several officers hold him against the wall and handcuff him, while a woman can be heard asking for an explanation.
The recording artist, who identifies as the son on TikTok, asks, “Why are you doing this?”
When officers press charges, Sherland laughs and says, “Unlicensed body art!”
He resists shortly before the police manage to push him out the door, and his wife and son follow.
‘Piercing is done here without a permit,’ she calls after them as he is marched down the street.
“It takes three cops, four cops, who come into my house without permission. No permission and my front door broken into.
‘This is the boy here who got an ear piercing from his father. These cops broke into my front door. Broke in at the front door.’
The boy adds, “I wanted to get my ears pierced.”
Sherland is marched out of the house, accompanied by four officers
Sherland was held in jail for two nights and was released Saturday night after posting $1,500 bail
Sherland spent two nights in the Washington County Jail and was released Saturday on $1,500 bail, online prison records showed.
He also faces complaints of endangering the welfare of a minor, resisting arrest and obstruction of government operations.
Officers were met by Jeremy at the front door, police said.
Officers asked Jeremy to go outside. Jeremy refused to stand in the doorway with his hands behind the door and wall and posed for himself.
Officers told Jeremy he was under arrest and explained the likely reason for the arrest. Jeremy refused to obey.
“Agents then took him into custody.”