Black man shot within the mouth by Mississippi deputy to file federal civil rights lawsuit

JACKSON, Miss. — Two males – one in every of whom was shot within the mouth by a regulation enforcement officer – introduced on Tuesday that they may file a federal civil rights lawsuit towards a Mississippi sheriff’s division alleging a sample of extreme pressure towards Black individuals.

In a information launch saying the lawsuit, attorneys for Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker additionally publicly recognized for the primary time the deputy who they are saying put a gun inside Michael Corey Jenkins’ mouth earlier than firing it. Parker confirmed the deputy’s id in a follow-up interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The upcoming lawsuit comes amid an ongoing Justice Department civil rights investigation into the encounter between Jenkins, Parker and Rankin County Department Sheriff’s deputies in January.

In a information launch, Attorney Malik Shabazz mentioned that he would file 22 claims of federal civil rights violations within the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi earlier than Monday. The males will search $400 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

“If there ever were a case where punitive damages needed to be levied against police officers, this is the case,” lawyer Shabazz wrote within the launch. “This incredible, nasty, violent ordeal exposes that Rankin County deputies and the Department have had a long pattern and practice of deadly excessive force and hate crimes against its African American citizens.”

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s division and an lawyer representing the deputies didn’t reply to emails and cellphone calls searching for remark Tuesday.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has confirmed {that a} deputy shot Jenkins, however the company has not recognized the deputy or launched some other particulars concerning the case. Jenkins was hospitalized for weeks, and his medical information present he suffered a lacerated tongue and a damaged jaw. Deputies haven’t mentioned whether or not a weapon was discovered on the scene.

Jenkins has mentioned he didn’t know the title of the deputy who shot him. Parker, Shabazz and lawyer Trent Walker declare it was Deputy Hunter Elward, primarily based partly on a separate courtroom doc through which Elward swore that Jenkins had pointed a gun at him. In addition, Parker mentioned he acknowledged Elward from on-line images of the deputy.

Jenkins and Parker mentioned on the evening of Jan. 24, six white Rankin County deputies abruptly got here into the house the place Parker was dwelling and proceeded to handcuff and beat them. They mentioned the deputies shocked them repeatedly with stun weapons over roughly 90 minutes and, at one level, pressured them to lie on their backs because the deputies poured milk over their faces.

The males additionally mentioned deputies tried to assault them with a intercourse toy they discovered whereas looking the house. Jenkins mentioned the encounter culminated with a deputy putting a gun in his mouth and firing.

Deputies mentioned the raid was prompted by a report of drug exercise on the dwelling. Jenkins was charged with possessing between 2 and 10 grams of methamphetamine and aggravated assault on a police officer. Parker was charged with two misdemeanors: possession of paraphernalia and disorderly conduct. Deputies haven’t mentioned whether or not they obtained a warrant to look the house. The lawsuit will allege deputies illegally entered.

There is not any physique digital camera footage of the incident. Automated Taser information obtained by The AP present that Tasers had been turned on, turned off or used dozens of occasions throughout a roughly 65-minute interval earlier than Jenkins was shot.

An AP investigation in March revealed that a number of Rankin County Sheriff’s Department deputies have been concerned in not less than 4 violent encounters with Black males, together with the one with Jenkins and Parker, since 2019 that additionally left two useless. A second man in addition to Jenkins additionally alleges that deputies shoved weapons into his mouth.

The allegations towards the deputies have sparked a Justice Department probe into the encounter. In a group assembly in Mississippi on June 1, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division mentioned the investigation continues to be ongoing.

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