Police said they were contacted by a resource officer at Springdale Public Schools who was concerned about a teen’s welfare when he showed up at school with a piercing in one ear. He told fellow students his dad had been drunk when he “put him in a choke hold and shoved the piercing in his ear,” police said in a press release.
Police went to the home of Jeremy Sherland, the father of the teen, to question him about what happened. While he admitted piercing his son’s ear, he refused to answer more questions or let police talk to his son, the department said. They left and came back with an arrest warrant.
Officers’ second visit to the home is partially captured on video. When they asked Sherland to step outside, officers said he refused and blocked the doorway.
The video shows an officer push Sherland back into the house. Multiple officers hold him against the wall and place him in handcuffs, as a woman can be heard asking for an explanation. The person recording, who identifies himself on TikTok as the teenage boy in question, asks, “Why are you doing this?”
When officers state the charge, Sherland laughs and says, “Body art without a license!”
The video then shows Sherland being placed into the back of a police car as the woman and the person recording follow officers into the street.
“Piercing his son’s ear without a license takes three cops, four cops?” the woman asks as the officers walk away. “They busted in my front door. This is the boy right here.”
“I wanted my ears pierced,” adds the person recording, whose face isn’t shown.
Tontitown police said Sherland violated the Arkansas law of “performing body art on a person under 16 years of age, regardless of parental consent,” which is a felony.
Sherland is also charged with endangering the welfare of a minor, refusal to submit to arrest and obstructing governmental operations.
Sherland was released on bond late Saturday night. A hearing is set for Monday morning, according to the Washington County Jail’s website.