US cops in Mississippi shoot in Black man's mouth; sheriff office under scrutiny

Two deputies from Mississippi sheriff department allegedly abused their power and shoved guns into mouth of a Black man, an investigation by Associated Press revealed at a time when debates of police brutality and racial bias continues in the country.

The incidenthas led to the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation into the Rankin County Sheriff's Office.

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As per reports, two men levelled allegations against the deputies accusing them of assault. One man named Michael Corey Jenkinssaid that the deputy not only shoved his gun into his mounth but pulled the trigger too which resulted in inflicting potential injuries to his tongue which he had to get operated on to sew back.

In their defence, the two deputies said that Jenkins was shot as he pointed a gun at them. However, there was no comment made by the sheriff's officials on if there was a weapon present at the scene. Jenkins' attorney, Malik Shabazz, on the other hand, said his client didn't have a gun.

"They had complete control of him the entire time. Six officers had full and complete control of Michael the entire time," Shabazz said. "So that's just a fabrication."

Another man's mother said that her son purportedly became the victim of police abuse when a deputy kneeled on his neck in a manner that it was difficult for him to even breathe. The findings also unearths that the deputies were broadly involved in four such violent encounters since 2019, which resulted in the death of two other men.

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As per the last year's data of Rankin County, Mississippi, where the incident took place, over 70 per cent of the population is white and the Black people constitutes to only about 20 per cent of the county that has a population of about 160,000 people.

The county has about 120 sherrif deputies. The accused deputies joined the sheriff's office's Special Response Team (SRT). The SRT is a special purpose tactical squad which are mostly employed at a time when there is a law enforcement confrontation which requires advanced training. They are specially equipped individuals who are trained for a variety of situation.

These deputies joined the tactical team, however, as per the investigation it is unclear weather the deputies were serving in their normal capacity or as members of the unit.

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The wider focus here is on the SRT which is now under scrutiny, especially after January killing of Tyre Nichols, a second-degree murder. Nichols incident led to several protests and stoked a discussion on the role of such squads.The Memphis incident involved Nichols first being pulled over for violating traffic laws and later brutally assaulted with batons where he succumbed to his injuries.

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