Mississippi
Sister of Mississippi man who died after police pulled him from car rejects lawsuit settlement
(AP) – A woman who sued Mississippi’s capital city over the death of her brother has decided to reject a settlement after officials publicly disclosed how much the city would pay his survivors, her attorney said Wednesday.
George Robinson, 62, died in January 2019, days after three Jackson police officers pulled him from a car while searching for a murder suspect.
The Jackson City Council on Tuesday approved the payment of $17,786 to settle the lawsuit that relatives of Robinson filed in state court in October 2019, WLBT-TV reported. City documents said the settlement was not an admission of liability by the city or the three officers named in the lawsuit. Robinson was Black, as are the three officers.
The payment to the relatives — including Robinson’s sister, Bettersten Wade — was approved on a unanimous vote. Wade’s attorney, Dennis Sweet III, released a letter Wednesday saying that the city of Jackson violated a confidentiality agreement that was part of the settlement. Sweet said that because of the public disclosure and because the city “appears to claim or infer some sort of perceived victory,” Wade intends to continue suing the city.
Sweet said Robinson’s family reached a separate “substantial settlement” with an ambulance company.
Councilman Kenneth Stokes said he thought the city settlement was too small, although he voted for it.
“I’m saying it just sends the wrong message about human life, especially Black people’s lives,” Stokes said. “I think a step in the right direction would’ve been to pay the family a little bit more.”
The lawsuit alleged that the three officers “brutally, viciously and mercilessly beat Mr. Robinson by striking and kicking him.”
“Mr. Robinson had not committed any crime, was not the subject of any active warrant, and was not a threat to himself or any person in the area,” the lawsuit said.
Robinson had been hospitalized for a stroke days before the police encounter and was on medication, Wade has said. He had a seizure hours after he was beaten, and he died two days later from bleeding on his brain.
Second-degree murder charges against two of the officers were dropped in the case. In August 2022, a Hinds County jury convicted former detective Anthony Fox of culpable negligence manslaughter — and then in January of this year, the Mississippi Court of Appeals overturned Fox’s conviction. A majority of the appeals court wrote that prosecutors failed to prove Fox “acted in a grossly negligent manner” or that Robinson’s death “was reasonably foreseeable under the circumstances.”
Wade is the mother of Dexter Wade, who was run over by an off-duty Jackson Police Department officer in March 2023.
Dexter Wade was buried at the Hinds County Pauper’s Cemetery. But it was October before his mother was told about the burial.
His body was exhumed Nov. 13, and an independent autopsy was conducted. A wallet found in the pocket of his jeans contained his state identification card with his home address, credit card and a health insurance card, said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Wade’s family.
On Nov. 20, Dexter Wade’s family held a funeral for him, and he was buried in another cemetery.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
STARKVILLE — Kamario Taylor stepped to his left in the pocket, then the Mississippi State football quarterback side-stepped to his right to make three Ole Miss defenders whiff on a sack.
He dashed up field with just one more defender to beat. Taylor juked him, scoring a 35-yard rushing touchdown.
That’s the player MSU coach Jeff Lebby said is the center of the 2026 roster rebuild on Nov. 28.
It was after Taylor made his first career start in the Egg Bowl. Although it didn’t lead to a win, the 38-19 loss for the Bulldogs (5-7, 1-7 SEC) to No. 6 Ole Miss (11-1, 10-1) showed a potential future star for MSU at quarterback.
“As we continue to build it the right way and build these pieces of the roster around (Taylor) that’s going to be really important,” Lebby said. “I think we got somebody that’s going to catch a snap every single down and is going to be an elite player in this conference and in America.
“So building it the right way around him, creating stability for him will be huge. We’ve got to go get the pieces up front, offensively, and that will be a huge point of emphasis as we ready for the portal piece of it.”
Evaluating Kamario Taylor’s first Mississippi State start
The Egg Bowl wasn’t the first extended playing time this season for Taylor, a four-star freshman from Noxubee County.
He replaced starter Blake Shapen twice in the final month of the season because of injuries. Taylor played in all but two games, mainly for his running ability.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Taylor led MSU to a 97-yard opening drive touchdown against Ole Miss. He scored on a 22-yard rushing touchdown. The offense struggled after that though, scoring six points until Taylor’s 35-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter.
“I feel like I could’ve executed a lot better,” Taylor said. “We left some stuff on the field. I wish I could get some plays back. Going into this, Coach Lebby made sure I was confident and Blake was very supportive of me, helping me learn like where they are going and what they’re trying to do to try to mess with me. He was very supportive, so I went into the game very confident.”
Taylor completed 15 of 31 passes for 178 yards and one interception on a pass that was tipped twice, one play after Taylor ran for a 39-yard gain. He rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns, the first MSU quarterback since Garrett Schrader in 2019 to have over 100 rushing yards in a game.
It wasn’t perfect, as demonstrated by his completion percentage below 50%. Taylor will have to keep improving his accuracy. But the play-making ability was evident as he eluded tackles. The debut start was enough to give hope for Mississippi State in 2026.
“Moving forward, we are going to do some special things at Davis Wade,” Taylor said. “We trust Coach Lebby 100%. We know he’s going to put us in the right positions, so we just got to execute.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi State’s 38-19 loss to No. 7 Ole Miss in Friday’s Egg Bowl didn’t completely end its season.
At 5-7, if there aren’t enough six-win teams to fill out the schedule of bowl games, the Bulldogs could be invited to a bowl game.
However, it’s not very likely to happen and Friday is most likely the end of Mississippi State’s 2025 season.
It was a disappointing season, but there were some good things that should give the Bulldogs, and their fans hope for an even better 2026 season.
Before we get too far into offseason storylines, let’s take a look back at the season and identify the good, bad and ugly things from Mississippi State’s season.
Big Passing Plays
Brenen Thompson and Anthony Evans III were two of the best transfer portal additions the Bulldogs made last offseason. A highlight reel play was always a possibility whenever they touched the ball.
Thompson was especially great. He had a team-high six touchdown receptions and 948 receiving yards. Most of this touchdown catches came on gains of at least 20 yards.
The explosive passing game was fun to see when it was working and showed some potential for what a Jeff Lebby offense can look like in Starkville.
Kamario Taylor
The true freshman quarterback is going to be main source of hope for Mississippi State fans. He was used sparingly until the Egg Bowl when he made his first start.
Against the Rebels, Taylor ran for 173 yards and two touchdowns, while also completing 15-of-31 passes for 178 yards and an interception (that wasn’t really his fault).
Taylor’s the highest-rated high school quarterback to ever sign with Mississippi State and he showed flashes of greatness.
Offensive line play
One of the biggest reasons the Bulldogs won only two games was the play of its offensive line. They had rushers averaging just 3.9 yards per carry and gave up 38 sacks.
Mississippi State’s 2025 offensive line gave up 40 sacks.
Injuries certainly played a role in the season. Blake Steen played just one game and Albert Reese IV missed multiple games.
But it’s concerning how the offensive line didn’t improve from last season despite bringing in a new offensive line coach.
It should’ve been a red flag when Mississippi State signed several offensive lineman after spring practices. Why wasn’t the need identified during the winter transfer portal window?
Run defense and pass rush
Opponents averaged nearly 190 rushing yards a game against Mississippi State’s defense. That’s a slight improvement on last season that had an average north of 200.
But anyone that saw the Bulldogs’ defense in the last few weeks saw teams run the ball at-will. Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy ran for 300 yards.
As for the pass rush, consider this: Will Whitson played a game and a half and finished second on the team in sacks, just a half sack behind the leader Nic Mitchell.
Mississippi State recorded 20 sacks this season, which doubled last season’s total.
But the improvements weren’t enough and serious, major changes need to be made on the defensive side.
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football coach Jeff Lebby said he thought hard about the team’s quarterback situation the day after its 49-27 loss to Missouri on Nov. 15.
Then he made the decision that many fans had been wanting. He benched quarterback Blake Shapen for freshman Kamario Taylor.
The Bulldogs kept the decision under wraps until Taylor trotted onto the field as the starter in the 2025 Egg Bowl. It was his first career start as MSU (5-7, 1-7 SEC) lost 38-19 to No. 6 Ole Miss (11-1, 7-1) at Davis Wade Stadium on Nov. 28.
Shapen had been Mississippi State’s quarterback in all of the other games.
“Really, really hard decision for me,” Lebby said. “As we got back from Missouri, thought about it nonstop on Sunday. For me, as hard as it was to make, the results hadn’t been what we needed. For us, I felt like things had not been great for us up front. Who’s the guy that has the ability to make a couple of plays when things aren’t perfect?
“(Taylor) had done some good things, and I felt like it was the right time. For me, it was incredibly hard because of my love for Blake, his toughness and how he has led and continued to be exactly who he’s supposed to be. For me, really hard, but beginning of last week we made that decision.”
Taylor, a former four-star recruit from Noxubee County, led MSU on an opening-drive touchdown, but the offense was inconsistent for the rest of the game until a second touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Taylor completed 15 of 31 pass attempts for 178 yards and one interception that tipped off the hands of two players. Where he was most impactful though was as a runner with 173 yards and two touchdowns.
“I was kind of nervous when he announced it,” Taylor said. “He didn’t announce it to the whole team, but he just told me. He asked me if I was nervous, and I told him nah, I wasn’t. But like, I was nervous.
“I knew that God gave me this ability to go showcase the things he allows me to do. I was pretty confident, but I was nervous, especially playing in a big game like that.”
How Blake Shapen handled getting benched for Kamario Taylor
Shapen not playing in the Egg Bowl meant the graduate senior’s career ended with a benching.
He played four seasons at Baylor before transferring to MSU in 2024. Shapen was the starter last season too, until suffering a season-ending fractured shoulder blade in Week 4.
“I’m sure really hard,” Lebby said. “Incredibly hard. Blake’s poured a lot into this and he’s been an unbelievably consistent person inside our building for two years. And he’s been through a lot.
“For him not to have the ability to go do it today is hard for him. And it’s hard for me because of who he’s been, his toughness and how he has absolutely laid it on the line for me and this university. It’s really hard for him and hate that this was the end for him.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
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