The US Department of Justice stated Thursday that six white Mississippi police officers tortured two innocent Black men with a sex toy, tasers, and a sword in an hours-long attack that culminated with one man being shot through the mouth and neck.
The heinous assault and following cover-up, in which the men left one victim bleeding while concealing proof of their crimes, is the latest racial smear on US policing.
“The defendants in this case tortured and inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims, egregiously violated the civil rights of citizens whom they were supposed to protect, and shamefully betrayed the oath they swore as law enforcement officers”, Attorney General Merrick Garland stated.
Five former members of Mississippi’s Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and one former Richland Police Department pled guilty Thursday to civil rights conspiracy, deprivation of rights under color of law, and obstruction of justice.
All six admitted that on January 24, this year, while responding to a report of suspicious activity, they smashed in a door at a house and launched a sustained and unjustified attack on two Black men inside.
They handcuffed the guys and racially harassed them, urging them to stay out of Rankin County, according to the Department of Justice.
“The defendants punched and kicked the men, tased them 17 times, forced them to ingest liquids, and assaulted them with a dildo”, a press statement read.
According to the DoJ, they also struck one individual many times with a metal blade and a wooden kitchen tool.
Deputy Hunter Elward, 31, took a bullet from his gun’s chamber and shoved it into one man’s lips before squeezing the trigger.
“Elward racked the slide, intending to dry-fire it again. The gun fired when Elward pushed the trigger. The bullet lacerated (the victim’s) tongue, broke his jaw, and exited through his neck”, the DoJ stated.
The men began planting evidence to defend their acts as their badly injured victim lay bleeding.
Prosecutor Kristen Clarke stated, “Remarkably, the victim survived the shooting even though these defendants left him lying on the floor gushing blood for a considerable amount of time… because they were too busy developing a false story to try and cover up their misconduct”.
“These defendants’ actions not only caused significant physical, emotional, and psychological harm to the victims but also to the entire community, who feel they cannot trust the police officers who are supposed to serve them, leaving other police officers to try to mend the communal wounds inflicted by these defendants”, Clarke continued.
“This trauma is exacerbated because the misconduct was motivated by racial prejudice and hatred”, he added.
All charges were dropped against Elward, Brett McAlpin, 52, Christian Dedmon, 28, Jeffrey Middleton, 46, Daniel Opdyke, 27, and Joshua Hartfield, 31.
Dedmon, Elward, and Opdyke also pled guilty to three other felony offenses resulting from another attack on a white man in December.
The six are scheduled to be sentenced on November 14.
Horrifying incidents of police violence against minorities in the United States have become all too common, with victims like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor serving as emblems of what opponents say is wrong with the US law enforcement model.
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