Thank you for starting this thread. I came here to do just that. It hurts my heart that there are still law enforcement officers in this country who would inflict this torture on anyone. Hatred (racial and otherwise) runs deep. Some of these officers had also treated a white man badly (but not this badly) the month before, according to linked information in this article. They are an equal opportunity “Goon squad” as they called themselves, but their racism is clearly evident. Shameful!
JMO
From the link…read this and weep:
The deputies avoided a surveillance camera above the front door. Dedmon, Opdyke and Elward broke open the carport door and Hartfield kicked open the back door.
Entering the home without a warrant, the officers encountered two Black men: Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins. Parker was living there to help take care of the woman who owned the property. Jenkins, his friend, was staying there temporarily.
Over the next two hours, Parker and Jenkins were subjected to
grueling violence at the hands of the six White law enforcement officers, culminating in Jenkins being shot in the mouth.
The horrors the two men endured—as well as the text messages and other details in this report—were included in the federal court document filed on July 31. The six officers were charged with a combined 13 felonies in connection with “the torture and physical abuse” of the two men that night, the Justice Department said in a news release. The officers, who had been fired or had resigned after the incident, pleaded guilty to all charges against them in federal court last Thursday.
Some of the officers involved even called themselves “The Goon Squad” because of their willingness to “use excessive force” and not report it, according to the federal document.
The former officers are
also facing state charges – all six are facing a charge of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, four with obstruction of justice in the first degree, two are charged with home invasion, and one with aggravated assault – and are expected to plead guilty on August 14 as part of the plea deal, according to Mississippi Deputy Attorney General Mary Helen Wall.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said, “No human being should ever be subjected to the kind of torturous, traumatizing and horrific acts of violence that were carried out by these law enforcement officers.”
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The abuse continued in a bedroom, where Opdyke, Middleton, Dedmon and McAlpin assaulted Parker with pieces of wood and a metal sword.
Dedmon, Middleton, Hartfield and Elward then began to tase the two men repeatedly to see “which (Taser) was the most powerful,” the document said. Elward’s Taser was discharged eight times; Hartfield’s five; and Dedmon’s four.
Then, Dedmon fired into the yard.
Elward removed a bullet from his gun, forced Jenkins onto his knees and put the gun into his mouth. Elward fired the gun, which did not discharge.
He racked the slide, put the gun back in Jenkins’ mouth and pulled the trigger again.
The bullet lacerated Jenkins’ tongue, broke his jaw and went out through his neck.
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Parker and Jenkins laid out the details of that night in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in mid-June, alleging six White deputies had turned off their body cameras and handcuffed, kicked, waterboarded, punched, repeatedly used Tasers on the two men, called them racial slurs and threatened to rape them.
“In their repeated use of racial slurs in the course of their violent acts, (the deputies) were oppressive and hateful against their African- American victims. Defendants were motivated
on the basis of race and the color of the skin of the persons they assaulted,” the lawsuit states.
When emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene, Jenkins was taken to a hospital and underwent multiple surgeries. He has suffered permanent physical injuries and cognitive damage, including disfigurement and impairment, according to the civil lawsuit. Parker also sought medical attention for injuries suffered during the incident, it said.
The five Rankin County officers were under the purview of Sheriff Bailey, who is among the named defendants in the victims’ civil lawsuit filed in June.
More at the link: