US: Six former Mississippi cops plead guilty to torturing two Black men, one white man

Six former police officers in Mississippi pleaded guilty to torturing and abusing two Black men and a white man in two separate incidents. In a statement on Thursday (August 3), the US Justice Department said these former police officers were charged with a total of 16 felonies stemming from the torture and physical abuse of the three men, who were residents of Rankin County.

"Those 16 felonies include civil rights conspiracy, deprivation of rights under colour of law, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice," the statement said.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"...six defendants, five former members of the Rankin County, Mississippi, Sheriff’s Office (RSCO) – Chief Investigator Brett McAlpin, 52, Narcotics Investigator Christian Dedmon, 28, Lieutenant Jeffrey Middleton, 46, Deputy Hunter Elward, 31, Deputy Daniel Opdyke, 27 – and one former member of the Richland, Mississippi, Police Department – Narcotics Investigator Joshua Hartfield, 31 – pleaded guilty to all charges against them," the statement added.

The victims

The two Black men were identified as MJ and EP and the white man has not been identified yet. The former police officers admitted that on January 24, without a warrant or any exigent circumstances, they kicked in the door and entered a home in Braxton, Rankin County, Mississippi where MJ and EP were residing.

"The defendants handcuffed and arrested the men without probable cause to believe they had committed any crime, called them racial slurs, and warned them to stay out of Rankin County. Further, the defendants punched and kicked the men, tased them 17 times, forced them to ingest liquids, and assaulted them with a dildo. During the incident, Dedmon fired his gun twice to intimidate the men," the statement said.

After this incident, Elward surreptitiously removed a bullet from the chamber of his gun, forced the gun into MJ’s mouth and pulled the trigger. The unloaded gun clicked but did not fire.

The officer racked the slide, intending to dry-fire a second time. When Elward pulled the trigger, the gun discharged. The bullet lacerated MJ’s tongue, broke his jaw, and exited out of his neck.

As the MJ was bleeding on the floor, the defendants did not provide medical aid but instead gathered outside the home to devise a false cover story and took steps to corroborate it including charging the man with crimes he did not commit, submitting fraudulent drug evidence to the crime lab and making false statements to investigators.

The statement also said that Dedmon, Elward, and Opdyke each also pleaded guilty to a criminal information, leading to charges of three additional federal felony offences, including deprivation of rights under colour of law and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

These charges arose from an incident on December 4, 2022, in which Dedmon beat and tased a white man and fired a gun near his head to coerce a confession, while Elward and Opdyke failed to intervene.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.