Mississippi

Police In A Small Mississippi Town Brutalized Its Black Population, Lawsuit Alleges

Published

11 months ago

January 25, 2024

Police In A Small Mississippi Town Brutalized Its Black Population, Lawsuit Alleges

A lawsuit filed this week by Julian, a civil rights organization based in Mississippi, alleges that the city of Lexington, a predominantly Black rural town, and its police department have harassed and abused Black residents for years.

The Department of Justice launched a “pattern-or-practice investigation” into Lexington in November, examining the city and its police department. Such investigations look for persistent patterns of misconduct or evidence of discriminatory practices.

Julian also filed a federal lawsuit in 2022 against the city after its former police chief Sam Dobbins was caught on tape making several racist comments ― including bragging about shooting a Black suspect 119 times.

This week’s lawsuit alleges the city of Lexington was complicit because the mayor and other officials ignored the misconduct. It alleges that Dobbins threw out police citations against white residents while targeting, arresting, threatening and harassing Black residents. The town’s population of about 1,600 is 80% Black and 18% white, according to the 2020 census.

The lawsuit details allegations from more than a dozen plaintiffs against the current police chief, Charles Henderson. It accuses Henderson of making lewd remarks to women as well as playing a role in encouraging bad policing and discriminatory acts by officers who worked under him.

“Defendant Henderson has authorized the misconduct of LPD officers, employees, and agents, including false arrests, and excessive force and has personally violated Black citizens’ civil rights,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also alleges that Mayor Robin McCrory acted with “deliberate indifference” to allegations made by the many plaintiffs. The lawsuit names several other police officers — Aaron Agee, Justin Newell, Laron Simpson, Chris Burrell, Cordarious Epps, Laron Simpson and Scott Walters — as defendants.

Henderson did not reply to repeated requests for comment, and the police department declined to comment. City officials also did not respond.

“Black Lexingtonians have told civil rights organizations that [they] are afraid to even stop for LPD now when officers pull them over [because] they believe there is a great likelihood that they will be beaten,” the lawsuit says.

Epps said in testimony for the 2022 lawsuit that he could remember “plenty” of times Dobbins threw out white residents’ citations.

“Basically, when we write white people tickets, they get throwed out under the table behind our back,” Epps said in the lawsuit.

Like many small towns in Mississippi, Lexington carries vestiges of a long history of racism toward Black people. Although the town is mostly Black now, many residents continue to feel the effects of racial discrimination from the police.

From June 27, 2021, to May 17, 2022, officers arrested seven white people and 100 Black people, with more than 40% of the arrests of Black people stemming from minor traffic violations. Additionally, from Aug. 15, 2022, to June 24, 2023, 98% of people arrested and sent to jail were Black and only 1% were white, the lawsuit states.

Dobbins promoted Henderson despite the fact that Henderson was reprimanded for “conduct unbecoming of a police officer” in Canton, Mississippi, before being fired from that police department.

In Lexington, a 60-year-old Black resident, Shirley Gibson, sued Henderson, claiming he used Mace and a Taser on her before she was falsely arrested in 2021. Henderson was never reprimanded for the encounter with Gibson.

Former Lexington police officers named in the lawsuit described Henderson and Dobbins as “partners in crime” whom the Black community complained about nearly daily.

Yolanda Wallace alleged Justin Newell arrested her and inappropriately touched her in June 2023.

“Mrs. Wallace asked him to loosen the cuffs, and Newell became angry, bent down, and put his hands between her legs near her vagina, and pulled her out of the car,” the lawsuit says.

Wallace was not charged, the lawsuit states.

The Justice Department investigation of the police department is ongoing.

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Mississippi

Mississippi Lottery: Mega Millions prize is $1.1 billion for Dec. 27 drawing

Published

3 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi Lottery: Mega Millions prize is .1 billion for Dec. 27 drawing

Want a really happy new year? The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday, Dec. 27, is an estimated $1.1 billion.

The winning numbers will be drawn just after 10 p.m. Central, and the cash option is $516.1 million.

A $1.1 billion-winning ticket was sold in New Jersey earlier this year, and that prize was just claimed this week, nine months after the drawing. In Mississippi, drawing winners must claim their prize within 180 days, and if you win, you can claim it anonymously.

Here’s what you need to know about top jackpots and how to play Mega Millions in Mississippi, including where you can buy tickets and how to claim the prize if you win.

Where can you buy lottery tickets?

Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.

How to play the Mega Millions

In order to buy a ticket, you’ll have to visit your local convenience store, gas station or grocery store. In a handful of states, you can purchase tickets online, but Mississippi isn’t one of them.

To play, you will need to pick six numbers. Five numbers will be white balls ranging from 1 to 70. The gold Mega Ball is one number between 1 and 25.

If you believe the odds are against you, ask for a ”Quick Pick” or an ”Easy Pick,” the computer will randomly generate the numbers for you.

Players can add the ”Megaplier” for $1, which can increase non-grand prize winnings by two, three, four or five times. The Megaplier is drawn before the Mega Millions numbers on Tuesday and Friday.

There are 15 Megapiler balls in all:

2X, five balls.
3X, six balls.
4X, three balls.
5X, one ball.

What are the top Mega Millions jackpots?

According to the lottery, the following jackpots are the Top 10 jackpots that have been won as of Oct. 4:

$1.602 billion, Aug. 8, 2023; a Florida player
$1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018; a South Carolina player
$1.348 billion, Jan.13, 2023; a Maine player
$1.337 billion, July 29, 2022; an Illinois player
$1.128 billion, March 26, 2024; a New Jersey payer
$1.050 billion, Jan. 22, 2021; a Michigan player
$810 million, Sept. 10, 2024; a Texas player
$656 million, March 30, 2012; a player from Illinois, Kansas and Maryland
$648 million, Dec. 17,2013; a player from California and Georgia
$552 million, June 4, 2024; an Illinois player

I won the lottery in Mississippi! What next?

The Mississippi Lottery advises people to sign the back of their winning ticket immediately.

If your prize is less than $600, you can claim that at any place that sells Mississippi Lottery tickets.

If you win $600-$99,999, you can claim by mail or by going to the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters in Flowood.

All prizes more than $100,000 must be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters.

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Mississippi

50th Anniversary Of Possum Ridge

Published

11 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Check out Possum Ridge, an annual exhibit put on by Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson.

Possum Ridge is a fictional town in Mississippi featuring model trains that you and your family can come check out during the holiday season.

Drew Gardner is the museum’s programming manager.

He said, “Yeah, so this is Possum Ridge. We have been doing Possum Ridge, the train town here at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, for over 50 years. It is actually our 50th anniversary. The first time we did it was in 1974. We’re so proud. We have it out every December.”

There are many museum staff members that help make this possible for visitors each year.

Gardner went on and said, “Yeah, so this is really a program from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History that we host. But we’ve got a group, some of our staff as well as others, that have really been dedicated over the years to making sure not only that we have this space but also that we continue to update it. So it’s kind of a unique combination of a community of folks that absolutely love and care for these trains.”

Plenty of visitors have already come through to check out Possum Ridge. We caught up with one family that was visiting the exhibit for the first time.

Mindy and Charles Freeman brought their grandson to the exhibit.

“I think it’s really cool. He went over with us. All of these buildings and stuff are a place in Mississippi. My little grandson here, his name is Sam, and he loves trains. So we just bought him out today to see the train exhibit,” Mindy Freeman said.

The Mississippi Rail lines are nothing short of historic.

These tracks helped countless Black Mississippians travel out of Mississippi during southern segregation to cities like Chicago and Detroit.

“The Illinois Central, as we talked about the Great Migration story. Black Mississippians made their way out of places like Mississippi to Chicago and other places further north. So in Mississippi, these rail lines were a heart for so many,” Gardner said.

There is no charge to view the exhibit. You and your family can check out Possum Ridge until December 31.

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Mississippi

Convicted murderer who escaped Mississippi prison on Christmas Eve has been captured | CNN

Published

22 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Convicted murderer who escaped Mississippi prison on Christmas Eve has been captured | CNN

CNN
—

A convicted murderer who escaped from a Mississippi state prison on Christmas Eve was captured Wednesday, according to a Mississippi Department of Corrections post on Facebook.

Drew Johnson was captured in an area near the prison, the post said.

Sentenced to life in prison on Valentine’s Day in 2022, Johnson managed to escape from Mississippi’s newest state prison in Greene County nearly three years later on Christmas Eve, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

Authorities in Mississippi had described Johnson as “desperate” and “very very dangerous.”

“Call your family and alert them. Send messages to them and get responses,” the George County Sheriff’s Department warned about the prison escape in a Facebook post. “People tend to be more generous during Christmas and let their guard down. Be vigilant and be careful.”

The 33-year-old has a violent criminal history spanning multiple states. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to a series of unrelated violent crimes, according to a news release from Tennessee’s Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. In 2016, Johnson fatally stabbed an acquaintance more than two dozen times, later abandoning the victim’s body in a field in southwest Memphis.

His violent behavior persisted behind bars. While incarcerated in Tennessee in 2021, Johnson attacked another prisoner, repeatedly striking him in the head with a brick, according to the district attorney’s office. Johnson also pleaded guilty to setting multiple fires while in jail in 2019.

Johnson received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for murder, along with 15-year sentences for each of his other crimes, all of which are to be served concurrently, according to Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.

He also has a pending murder case in Rankin County, Mississippi.

The convicted murderer broke out of South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville on Tuesday around 3:30 p.m., according to an alert from the Greene County Emergency Management office, shared by police in neighboring George County.

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