6 white Mississippi cops plead guilty to torturing black men with sex toy, stun gun — and wounding one in ‘mock execution’
Six white former Mississippi cops — including some who called themselves the “Goon Squad” for their use of excessive force — pleaded guilty Thursday to torturing two black men with Tasers and a sex toy earlier this year.
Former Rankin County Sheriff’s Office Deputies Christian Dedmon, 28; Hunter Elward, 31; Brett McAlpin, 52; Jeffrey Middleton, 46; and Daniel Opdyke, 27; and former Richland Officer Joshua Hartfield, 31, pleaded guilty to charges including assault, civil rights conspiracy and obstruction of justice over the disturbing Jan. 24 attack in Braxton.
Dedmon, Elward and Opdyke also pleaded guilty to three federal felony offenses for a separate incident on Dec. 4 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,” according to the Department of Justice.
The men will be sentenced in mid-November.
Dedmon and Elward each face a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines. Hartfield faces a possible sentence of 80 years and a $1.5 million fine, McAlpin faces 90 years and $1.75 million fine, Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million fine, and Opdyke could be sentenced to 100 years with a $2 million fine.
“The defendants in this case tortured and inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said, adding that they “egregiously violated the civil rights of citizens who they were supposed to protect.”
The six white officers kicked in the door of the Braxton home where Michael Corey Jenkins, 32, and Eddie Terrell Parker, 35, were staying with a white woman the latter was caring for on Jan. 24 without a warrant after a neighbor called to complain.
The officers entered the home with sex toys, firearms, stun guns, milk, eggs, alcohol and chocolate syrup and used racial slurs against the two men, telling them to “go back to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River — areas with higher concentrations of black residents,” court records showed.
Prior to entering the home, the officers planned to forego a warrant if they could bypass security cameras and wanted to use excessive force — but aimed to avoid the men’s faces so there would be “no bad mugshots,” according to the documents.
The deputies threw eggs on the handcuffed men and forced them to lie on their backs while pouring milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces. They then forced the men to strip naked and shower to remove the evidence.
In addition, they tased the victims several times to test whether the sheriff’s office or police department had stronger electric currents.
Opdyke and Dedmon also assaulted the two men with sex toys, while Elward shoved a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and fired in what was supposed to be a “mock execution.”
The bullet lacerated his tongue and broke his jaw.
As he lay on the ground bleeding, the officers did not render medical aid. They instead tried to devise a cover-up about a fictitious narcotics bust and discussed planting drugs and a gun, stolen surveillance and threats.
Court documents say the officers took on the “Goon Squad” nickname “because of their willingness to use excessive force and not to report it.”
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey announced the five officers from his department had been fired or resigned on June 27. After the court documents were unsealed, Bailey said the incident was the “most horrible incident of police brutality I’ve learned of over my whole career, and I’m ashamed it happened at this department.”
Jenkins and Parker filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Rankin County in June for $400 million in damages.
The disgraced officers are scheduled to plead guilty to state charges of assault, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in 10 days.
With Post wires
