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Michael Jenkins, alleged police brutality victim in Rankin County, Mississippi

Source: Black Lawyers for Justice / Black Lawyers for Justice

Police in Mississippi are under investigation after being accused of violating the civil rights of multiple Black men in at least four violent encounters since 2019.

As previously reported by NewsOne, multiple white police officers in Brandon, Mississippi falsely accused two Black men of selling drugs and “dating white women” before handcuffing and brutally torturing them, including shooting one of them in the mouth.

Michael C. Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker were in a private residence in the village of Braxton on Jan. 24 when the location was raided by six white officers without a warrant, Black Lawyers for Justice said in a press release emailed to NewsOne.

The officers allegedly accused Jenkins and Parker of “dating White women” and “selling drugs” — allegations attorneys have denied — before handcuffing them. After they were restrained, the officers allegedly “repeatedly” brutally beat and kicked the men while using a Taser on both and threatening to kill them. A witness even described the officers participating in something of a Taser contest with Jenkins and Parker being the targets, Jenkins’ mother said.

During interviews with the AP, both Jenkins and Parker confirmed that police stunned them with Tasers repeatedly over roughly 90 minutes, They also forced the two men to lie on their backs while officers poured milk over their faces. One officer would eventually put a gun in Jenkins’ mouth pulling the trigger, leaving him a broken jaw and with wounds that required parts of his tongue to be sewn back together.

Police allege Jenkins was shot after pointing a weapon at them, but Jenkins’ attorney says his client never had a gun. 

“They had complete control of him the entire time, said Jenkins’ attorney Malik Shabazz. “Six officers had full and complete control of Michael the entire time, So that’s just a fabrication.”

AP also found that many of the officers involved in the incident were a part of the sheriff’s office’s Special Response Team, an “elite” police unit that draws similar comparisons to the SCORPION unit involved in the beating and death of Tyre Nichols.

But Jenkins isn’t the only Black man claiming Mississippi police in Rankin County shoved a gun in their mouth. Carvis Johnson filed a federal lawsuit in 2020 after he says a deputy placed a gun into his mouth during a 2019 drug bust. Thankfully Johnson wasn’t shot.

Two different Black men accusing the same police unit of horrific civil rights violations can’t be a coincidence.

“If there are incidents with the same kind of pattern of behavior, they have their own set of rules,” Samuel Walker, professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska, told AP. “So these are not just chance experiences. It looks like a very clear pattern.”

SEE ALSO:

Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For ‘Dating White Women’: Lawyers

Justice For Anthony Lowe! Outraged Family, Activists Ask Why Cops Needed To Shoot Double Amputee

The post Horrific Details Emerge As Mississippi Police Accused Of Shooting Black Man’s Tongue Off appeared first on NewsOne.

Horrific Details Emerge As Mississippi Police Accused Of Shooting Black Man’s Tongue Off  was originally published on newsone.com