Mississippi deputies are ‘terminated’ after two black men claim abuse

Several Mississippi deputy sheriffs accused of sexually assaulting two black men and shooting one of them in the face have been fired or resigned, the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

The announcement came after the two men, Michael Corey Jenkins, 32, and Eddie Terrell Parker, 35, filed a federal lawsuit against the officers earlier this month. The lawsuit alleges that on Jan. 24, six Rankin County deputies raided Mr. Parker’s home in Braxton, Miss.

Then Mr Jenkins and Mr Parker said they were beaten and sedated with Tasers, abused with a sex toy and forced to strip naked in an ordeal that lasted nearly two hours.

Their lawsuit identified three deputies involved in the raid, namely Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, and Christian Dedmon, along with three others named John Doe 1-3. The former deputies had no defense attorneys and were unreachable.

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said in a statement Tuesday that the deputies involved in the episode had previously been placed on administrative leave. They were not identified by authorities.

Some deputies involved in the case had previously resigned, but Sheriff Bailey did not say how many had resigned and how many had been fired. He also did not elaborate on the specific reasons for their dismissal. An attorney representing the sheriff’s department referred to Sheriff Bailey’s statement.

“Due to recent developments, including findings during our internal investigation, the deputies still serving in this department have been fired,” the sheriff said.

“We understand that the alleged actions of these deputies have eroded public confidence in our department,” Sheriff Bailey said in the statement. “You can be assured that we will work diligently to restore that confidence.”

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said in January that Rankin County deputies were conducting a narcotics investigation in the home when someone “showed a gun in the direction of the deputies.”

During the raid, deputies attempted to put a sex toy in Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Parker’s mouths and flip Mr. Jenkins onto his stomach in an attempt to use the sex toy on him “from behind,” according to their complaint. . Evidence submitted to the complaint included photographs showing a sex toy left at the scene.

The lawsuit also alleges that the deputies, who are said to be white, called Mr Jenkins and Mr Parker racial slurs, beat them, fired Taser guns at them several times, made them undress and shower together, threw eggs at them and waterboard them.

A deputy put a gun in Mr Jenkins’ mouth while handcuffed and fired the weapon, shattering his jaw and “seriously” lacerating his tongue, the indictment said.

During a press conference on Wednesday via video call, Malik Shabazz, an attorney for Mr. Parker and Mr. Jenkins, the raid as “one of the worst cases of police brutality”.

Mr. Shabazz said he expected Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch to bring criminal charges against the fired deputies. Ms Fitch has not pressed charges and her office has not commented on the case on Wednesday.

Mr Jenkins was charged with assaulting an officer and possession of drugs, and Mr Parker was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and disorderly conduct, according to The associated press. It was unclear if those charges are still being prosecuted.

Mary Jenkins, Mr Jenkins’ mother, said on the video call that Sheriff Bailey should resign and that she wanted the fired deputies to be ‘prosecuted’.

“It’s not enough to fire those deputies because all they’ll do is go to another police department and do the same thing,” said Ms. Jenkins. “They’re here to protect and serve, but who’s going to protect us from them?”

With separate question news conference on Tuesday about calls to resign, Sheriff Bailey said, “I’m not resigning.”

In an interview in March, Mr. Shabazz that there was no evidence that Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Parker, who are friends, had a gun or drugs in their home during the raid. After the raid, Mr. Shabazz said that Mr. Jenkins needed several surgeries.

Mr Jenkins sat next to his mother during the press conference on Wednesday. Mr Jenkins did not speak as Mr Shabazz said he would later testify in the case.

Ms Jenkins said her son would face challenges “for the rest of his life” because of the injuries he sustained when he was shot in the face. Ms. Jenkins said her son sometimes had to be syringe fed and he had to work with a speech therapist to regain his ability to speak.

Christine Hauser reporting contributed.