Six cops torture two black men in Mississippi

I saw quote the other day that went along the lines of "Cops don't become psychos, psychos become cops."

While I don't believe that, and know that many cops really want to make a difference in their communities in a positive way, it did make me wonder what percentage of cops is made up of people who have a legit mental issue, an overwhelming propensity for violence, or are racist to the core.

This thread reminded me of that because to have 6 dudes, mostly from one department, act like this is telling.

 

NYT put out an article on Rankin Sheriff's Department within that past week that shows that this wasn't a one-off event. This is been happening for 20 years. Since I can only quote 4 paragraphs, I would say this article is a definite read, noting that article mentioned that the torture was "was neither confined to a small group of deputies nor hidden from department leaders." From officers carrying personal tasers so uses wouldn't show up in data logs, something that the dept issued tasers do, to using blowtorches during interrogations. Just wow. Read it.

How a ‘Goon Squad’ of Deputies Got Away With Years of Brutality

In the pursuit of drug arrests, deputies of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department shocked Robert Jones with a Taser in 2018 while he lay submerged in a flooded ditch, then rammed a stick down his throat until he vomited blood, he said.

During a raid the same year, deputies choked Mitchell Hobson with a lamp cord and waterboarded him to simulate drowning, he said, then beat him until the walls were spattered with his blood. That raid took place at the home of Rick Loveday, a sheriff’s deputy in a neighboring county, who said he was dragged half-naked from his bed at gunpoint, before deputies jabbed a flashlight threateningly at his buttocks and then pummeled him relentlessly.

Deputies held people down while punching and kicking them or shocked them repeatedly with Tasers. They shoved gun barrels into people’s mouths. Three people said deputies had waterboarded them until they thought they would suffocate. Five said deputies had told them to move out of the county.

Taser logs indicate that two of the nine deputies involved that night, James Rayborn and Cody Grogan, together triggered their Tasers at least 15 times during the two-and-a-half-hour raid.

 

What is it with bad cop culture and mementos?

From this department




The coin made by notorious Phoenix PD after an officer shot a Trump protestor in the nuts with a smoke canister.
Phoenix releases report on police coin that mocked protester





And recently, a mock tombstone spotted in the background of a bodycam video showing a Seattle police precinct of a 19 year old that was killed by the police, assumedly taken from a memorial of the dead teenager.
Trump flag, mock tombstone at Seattle police precinct ‘alarming and unfortunate,’ mayor says

 

What can you say? Who are the real criminals in these cases?

Just a hard fact but law enforcement does attract sadistic types.

 

Mississippi 'Goon Squad' Officer Sentenced to 20 Years for Torture of 2 Black Men

Hunter Elward – who shot a gun into Jenkins’s mouth, nearly severing his tongue – previously pleaded guilty to discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, two counts conspiracy to deprive rights and six counts deprivation against rights, the DOJ confirms to PEOPLE. Charged with the most heinous crimes in the racially-motivated attack, the sheriff's deputy faced up to 70 years behind bars, CNN, WLBT and WJTV report. A Mississippi judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison Tuesday.

Jeffrey Middleton will be sentenced this afternoon for conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to deprive rights and three counts of deprivation against rights.

Brett McAlpin, Daniel Opdyke, Joshua Hartfield and Christian Dedmon, who previously pleaded guilty in the case, will be sentenced March 20 and 21.

 

2nd officer sentenced. Is it me, or do these sentences seem to be on the lighter side?

Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ deputies get yearslong sentences for racist torture of 2 Black men

Hunter Elward, 31, was sentenced to about 20 years in prison, while Jeffrey Middleton, the 46-year-old leader of the so-called “Goon Squad” that abused the men, was given a 17.5-year prison sentence. Four other former law enforcement officers who admitted to torturing Jenkins and Parker are set to be sentenced later this week — two on Wednesday and two on Thursday.

Elward was also sentenced for his role in an assault on a white man that took place weeks before Jenkins and Parker were tortured. For the first time Tuesday, prosecutors identified the victim as Alan Schmidt and read a statement from him detailing what happened to him on Dec. 4, 2022.

During a traffic stop that night, Schmidt said Rankin County deputies accused him of possessing stolen property. They pulled him from the car and beat him. Then, Dedmon forced him to his knees and tried to insert his genitals into Schmidt’s mouth, as Elward watched.

 

20/17.5 years is a pretty long sentence for a crime that didnt involve a death. I'm not sure Mississippi is generous with parole either, but I'm also not sure how it works with these crimes. I'm guessing they lose their pension and retirement too, so they are pretty screwed.

 

Didn’t they shoot one of the victims in the mouth? I’d say torturing people ranks pretty close with murder. I guess the law doesn’t quite see it that way. At least they actually got convicted and the sentences are “a little light” rather than something crazy like 1-2 years. That’s better than most cases involving dirty cops.

 

People receive similar sentences for manslaughter. I'm sure the nature of the crime added to the sentence here to some degree. To some degree they are probably more screwed coming out of prison in late middle age losing your prime earning years, essentially unemployable, and having no cop pension.

 

That gif is a georgia boy isn't it? I would have accepted one from Mississippi Burning.

 

If they make it out.. Derek Chauvin has already been stabbed up. He's still alive, but getting stabbed 22 times has got to suck.

 

My emotions say those creeps should have received life sentences, my reason and knowledge of the law say these sentences were right on. There was a time in that damn state when they'd have received probation.

 

Fourth deputy from Mississippi "Goon Squad" sentenced for multiple incidents of torture - CBS News

Christian Dedmon, a former Rankin County sheriff's deputy, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in torturing Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, and for a separate incident where he led the torture of a White man, Alan Schmidt, in December 2022.

Earlier Wednesday, Daniel Opdyke, another former deputy, was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee in a Jackson federal court for his role in torturing Jenkins and Parker. He faced up to 20 years in prison.

Two remaining officers, former deputy Brett McAlpin and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield, are scheduled to be sentenced by Lee on Thursday.