A’sheena Woods had been sitting in her friend Lorrie’s home in Picayune, Miss., when a police car coasted into the driveway, lights flashing. The 15-year-old peered out a window and saw two officers exiting a vehicle and stepping toward the front door. She turned to face Lorrie, who had already begun scrambling through a nearby open window.
The two officers noticed Lorrie and gave chase on foot around the house. Woods calmly opened and walked through the front door, attempting to avoid drawing attention to herself. One of the officers, however, spotted and stopped her at the end of the driveway.
Woods recalls that she could not answer truthfully to the barrage of questions that followed out of a fear that the authorities would return her to the Department of Human Services’ custody. She did not want to live in a shelter or group home awaiting yet another foster family.
An officer placed her into the backseat of his cruiser before taking her to the Picayune police station, checking her in and guiding her to a room in the back. He explained that Woods would need a parent or guardian to pick her up so that the police department could release her.
Her mind ran in circles. The teenager did not have a parent or active guardian, and the last thing she wanted to do was call DHS.
A woman Woods had never seen before entered the room with another officer.
“A’sheena, where are your clothes?” the woman, whose name was Carolyn, asked. She gestured towards Woods’ shorts. “You know your parents would tear your butt up if they caught you wearing those.”
Initially confused, Woods soon understood Carolyn’s motives and played along. After a short conversation between Carolyn and the police, Carolyn signed some paperwork and took Woods to her home.
“She came in like she was my auntie, and the police released me to her.” Woods told the Mississippi Free Press. “She provided me with a room in her house, and she was just so sweet to me.”
This moment was pivotal for Woods and her story as
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