Nationwide concern continues to grow amid the death of 15-year-old Quawan Charles following the release of gruesome photos of the child released by the family. 

Thousands online, including members of Charles' family, have compared his death to that of Emmett Till and have demanded to know why the police department in Baldwin, Louisiana was so slow to respond to calls from his parents about his disappearance, as Blavity previously reported. 

The police department released an alarmingly flippant response when asked about Charles' death, telling the press in a statement that they had no plans to investigate what happened and would only look into why he was missing.

In response to the outrage over the death, Baldwin Mayor Phil Prejean criticized Chief Harry Smith in an interview with local news outlet KLFY, slamming him for being absent from the job for long periods of time. 

“I’m being conservative, probably nine months now I have not physically laid eyes on him much less had a conversation with him. It’s quite evident. It’s not like it’s something you have to look for to find out what’s going on. It’s just a matter of watching the door. He’s not there,” he said, adding that he has had this problem with Smith for years.

Prejean agreed with Charles' parents, who are enraged that police not only moved slowly in searching for the 15-year-old but also downplayed his disappearance, allegedly telling the family that the child was probably at a football game.

The police department has faced further criticism for not releasing an Amber Alert, something typically done for missing children. Charles' body was found five days after his parents said he went missing.

Prejean said the situation around Charles' death was emblematic of how Smith has worked as police chief. Despite rarely working, the town pays Smith's salary and provides him with a monthly $500 subsidy. The mayor said he does not have the power to fire Smith and the only way for a change to be made is if Smith resigned himself. 


“Things are just building up. In this last incident where the missing child ended up being found in Iberia Parish, it just brought it up to where it’s bubbling over now, and something has to be done. Something has to be done. We can’t continue to go this way. The town deserves better, and the town’s paying for it to be quite frank with you,” Prejean said.

“I don’t know why he wants to be chief of police. It’s kind of an either/or. You either do your job or you get out the way. I think the town deserves that,” he added.

When KLFY called Smith, he did not respond. And when reporters went to the police station, he was not there. 

But the police chief said he has been around. 

"I've been around just not going during the day," Smith said according to KATC. "I've been riding around during the night. Ever since the fire, I’ve just trying to get myself together."

Ron Haley, an attorney for Charles' family, said his investigators went to the home where the young boy was found dead and saw that the family at the center of the controversy appeared to be packing up to move.

A phone recording shared with KLFY and other news outlets featured a mother saying her son knew the family and saw disturbing things when he went to their home. 

“He did say whenever they picked up your son, him and his mother and the stepdad were all tripping on mushrooms. The ones that are poisonous, they make you trip out. From what I could understand he told my son that they found your son’s body in a sugar cane field behind their house,” the mother told a member of Charles' family in the recording.

The Washington Post was able to identify the family, naming a 17-year-old friend and his mother, Gavin and Janet Irvin, as the two who picked up Charles on October 30. He was never seen again. 

The police initially said Charles drowned and had water in his lungs when police found him. But photos shared by his family show horrific injuries to the teenager's face.

The newspaper spoke with multiple people who live in the trailer park with the Irvins and said it would be impossible for someone to drown in the shallow water. Multiple people they spoke with slammed the police and said if Charles had been white, people would have been arrested and an Amber Alert would have been sent out. 

“I want the lady who came to get my son without my permission, his dad’s permission, to be held accountable. She took them to her house. He was alive and well when he was here, and now he is dead,” Charles' mother, Roxanne Nelson, told The Washington Post. 

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