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The Rankin County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi has fired multiple deputies after two Black men filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging six White deputies entered their private residence illegally and tortured them for nearly two hours.
“Due to recent developments, including findings during our internal investigation, those deputies that were still employed by this department have all been terminated,” Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said during a news conference Tuesday, without specifying the number of deputies fired or their names. The deputies had been on administrative leave, the sheriff said, and he declined to comment on specific allegations.
The terminations come roughly two weeks after Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker filed a lawsuit alleging six deputies entered their Braxton home in January and handcuffed, kicked, waterboarded, repeatedly used Tasers on the men and attempted to sexually assault them. One deputy also put a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and shot him, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, filed June 12 in the US District Court in Mississippi, names Bailey and six deputies as defendants and seeks $400 million in damages.
It comes amid nationwide scrutiny of police use of force, especially against Black people, including the shooting of 11-year-old Aderrien Murry in Indianola, Mississippi, last month, the fatal shooting of Alonzo Bagley in Shreveport, Louisiana, in February and the beating death of Tyre Nichols by officers in Memphis, Tennessee, in January.
During the January 24 incident, deputies “forced their entry into the premises from several entry points without a warrant,” and with no “reasonable suspicion or probable cause” for entering the home, the lawsuit said.
