In April, 2024, federal judge Tom Lee sentenced six Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies to 15 to 45 years in prison for torturing two African American men. According to the U. S. Justice Department, the deputies punched and kicked the men, tased them 17 times, held them down and poured liquids on their faces, forcing them to involuntarily ingest these liquids, threw eggs at them and assaulted them with a dildo.
Rankin County deputy Hunter Elward put a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and pulled the trigger in a mock execution. The first click was a blank. The second click was live. The bullet lacerated Jenkin’s tongue, broke his jaw and exited out of his neck.
It started when someone called the Rankin Sheriff’s department and complained that Jenkins and Parker were living in a Braxton house with a white woman, as though that were illegal in some way. The deputies came to the house without a warrant.
The U. S. Department of Justice press release described what followed:
“The deputies kicked in the door and entered the home without a warrant or any exigent circumstances. 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. Dedmon fired his gun twice to intimidate the men. Further, the defendants punched and kicked the men; tased them 17 times; held them down and poured liquids on their faces, forcing them to involuntarily ingest these liquids; threw eggs at them and assaulted them with a dildo. McAlpin, the senior officer on the scene, failed to intervene to stop the torture or abuse and stole property while the incident occurred.”
The deputies left Jenkins bleeding on the floor and met outside to concoct an elaborate cover up, including planting drugs on the scene to frame the two innocent men.
This was a horrible, almost unimaginable racist crime that was perpetuated by the so-called Goon Squad within the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department. It was a miracle that the feds exposed, prosecuted and convicted this abomination.
Now, thanks to the reporting of Mississippi Today, the New York Times and veteran Mississippi investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell, it appears the Goon Squad involved more Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies who were not involved in that incident but participated in an encrypted What’s App group chat. The chats involved the most horrible subjects, including jokes about having sex with dead bodies found on crime scenes. Photos were posted of deputies next to the dead bodies in contrived positions. There were numerous posts about intimidating and terrorizing dozens of Rankin County citizens. This went on for years and involved nine additional deputies who have not yet been charged.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey needs to do an investigation and fire any deputy associated with this disgusting chat group. The Rankin County Board of Supervisors should conduct its own investigation to determine if top officials in the sheriff’s department were award of this chat group.
