This mix of photographs reveals former Mississippi legislation enforcement officers who pleaded responsible to state and federal expenses for torturing two Black males, from prime left, former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield, throughout court docket appearances Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Brandon, Miss.
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
The Justice Division has opened a civil rights investigation into policing in Rankin County, Miss., the place six white former legislation enforcement officers — a few of whom known as themselves the “Goon Squad” — had been convicted of torturing two Black males final yr throughout a no-warrant home raid.
U.S. Legal professional Common Merrick Garland mentioned in an announcement Thursday that the investigation will study whether or not the Rankin County Sheriff’s Division has a sample or follow of “systematically violat[ing] people’s constitutional rights through excessive use of force; unlawful stops, searches, and arrests; and discriminatory policing.”
The investigation may also study whether or not sheriff’s officers “have overused tasers, entered homes unlawfully, used racial slurs, and deployed dangerous, cruel tactics to assault people in their custody.”
Rankin County is a suburb east of the state’s capital, Jackson. In January 2023, 5 sheriff’s deputies and an off-duty police officer went to a white girl’s house after her white neighbor reported seeing a number of Black males at her property.
When the officers arrived, they tortured Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker for almost two hours throughout a warrantless house raid. The abuse included beating them, tasing them, and violating them with a intercourse toy — all of the whereas spewing racial slurs. The assault solely ended after one of many officers shot Jenkins within the mouth. The officers then tried to cowl up their crimes by planting medication and a gun on the scene and destroying proof, Mississippi Public Broadcasting beforehand reported.
Michael Corey Jenkins (proper) and Eddie Terrell Parker (left) stand with their native legal professional, Trent Walker, at a information convention on March 18 in Jackson, Miss.
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
Based on court docket paperwork, Parker was a childhood good friend of the girl on the house. He was serving to deal with her as a result of she had been paralyzed since she was a teen.
Officers Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke, Christian Dedmon, Joshua Hartfield and Hunter Elward, who shot Jenkins, had been finally arrested, charged in federal and state court docket and held with out bail. The previous officers all acquired prolonged jail sentences starting from 10 to 45 years.
The warrantless raid and torture inflicted by officers despatched shockwaves throughout the nation. It was later revealed that three of the previous officers — Elward, Middleton and Opdyke — known as themselves members of the “Goon Squad” due to their willingness to make use of extreme drive after which cowl it up, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
For the reason that assault, the Justice Division acquired extra complaints concerning different cases involving the Rankin deputies. These complaints embody allegations of extreme use of tasers, illegal entry into houses unlawfully, hurling racial slurs, and deploying harmful, merciless ways to assault individuals of their custody, in accordance with U.S. Assistant Legal professional Common Common Kristen Clarke.
The civil investigation is separate and unbiased from the federal legal civil rights prosecutions of the officers. It can evaluation the insurance policies, coaching and supervision contained in the Rankin County Sheriff’s Division, in addition to hear from neighborhood members and officers about their views.
The Justice Division mentioned Rankin County officers pledged to cooperate with the investigation.
