POLICE OFFICERS IN SCOTT CITY BACKED BY JURY IN COMPLAINT

BENTON -- A Scott County Grand Jury has ruled that two Scott City police officers did not disregard the law nor were they negligent when they failed to take a young boy to the police station after they arrested and jailed his grandfather.

Scott County Prosecuting Attorney David Dolan said the ruling was made last week.

"As far as my office is concerned, we will pursue the case no further," Dolan said.

On May 24, Scott City reserve officers Lloyd Young and Bobby Wooten arrested Jerry Moore. With Moore was his 6-year-old grandson, who stayed behind after the officers took Moore to jail.

The boy's mother, Jeannie Moore of Cape Girardeau, later filed a complaint with the Scott County Sheriff's Department, alleging that the officers were negligent in allowing her son to be taken home by two men who were nearby when the arrest occurred. Her son did not know the men, she said.

Moore also claimed her father did not give the men permission to take the boy home and that the officers had abandoned the boy.

The sheriff's department investigated the complaint and turned over the results of the investigation to Dolan, Moore said.

An investigation into the complaint by the Scott City Police Department also found no fault with the officers.

Young and Wooten claimed Jerry Moore had given the men permission to take the boy home, and said they agreed that doing so would be less traumatic for the boy than to be taken to the police station with his grandfather and turned over to juvenile authorities.