JACKSON, Miss. ~ On Thursday, six ex-police officers in Mississippi, including members of a group called “The Goon Squad,” pled guilty to a racist assault on two Black men in which one of the victims was shot in the mouth. According to court filings, on January 24, four white police officers barged into a home without a warrant and abused four males with a sex toy, stun guns, and other implements for almost 90 minutes. According to the documents, the police officers involved in the botched “mock execution” planned to plant and tamper with evidence after one victim was shot and wounded.
The Department of Justice’s civil rights investigation began in February. On Thursday, the Mississippi attorney general’s office announced that state charges for assault, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice had been brought against the six former cops. Former deputies Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, and Daniel Opdyke all pleaded guilty. Off-duty former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield also admitted responsibility for his role in the raid.
On December 4, Dedmon, Elward, and Opdyke all pleaded guilty to separate counts of federal felony charges. Dedmon was charged with assault for allegedly beating a white guy, Tasering him, and firing a gun near the man’s head to extract a confession as Elward and Opdyke stood by and did nothing. As U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland put it, “the defendants in this case tortured and inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims,” and they “egregiously violated the civil rights of citizens who they were supposed to protect.” Two Black males were killed and another was permanently injured after being involved in violent incidents with the deputies, according to an Associated Press investigation, which led to the civil rights charges.
After the beating death of Tyre Nichols following a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee in January and the shooting of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020, police violence in the United States has received heightened criticism. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Chief Kristen Clarke stated the actions of the Mississippi police “caused harm to the entire community who feel that they can’t trust the police officers who are supposed to serve them.”
According to court papers, the police earned the moniker “Goon Squad” “because of their willingness to use excessive force and not report it.” Eggs were thrown at the victims, who were shackled, and they were made to lie on their backs as milk, wine, and chocolate syrup were poured down their throats. To hide their tracks, the men were made to undress and take showers.
The policemen also repeatedly shocked the victims with stun guns to see which agency had the more potent equipment. Middleton, one of the deputies, offered to place an unlicensed gun at the site. Opdyke and Dedmon were charged with assaulting the two males with the sex toy, according to court documents. Keith Taylor, a professor at New York City’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former police officer, claims that the vast majority of police officers are upholding the law.
According to Taylor, “the inhumanity that manifested itself in the behavior of officers” in this case stems from racism and other forms of bigotry. On June 27, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said that five deputies were terminated or resigned due to their involvement in the incident. When it was established that Hartfield was the sixth officer, he was also let go. On Thursday, Bailey stated that the unsealed court documents were the first place he learned about what had occurred to Jenkins and Parker.
This is the worst case of police violence I’ve heard of in my whole career, and I’m embarrassed that it occurred in my department, Bailey added. In a statement released by Black Lawyers for Justice on Thursday, attorney Malik Shabazz, who represents Jenkins and Parker, expressed gratitude to the Justice Department. Shabazz referred to the guilty pleas as “historic” for bringing justice to victims of rogue police torture in Rankin County and across the United States. To paraphrase, “Today is truly historic for Mississippi and for civil and human rights in America.”
