A former Richland police officer has been implicated alongside five Rankin County deputies for his role in allegedly assaulting two Black males.
Richland Police Chief Nick McLendon took to social media to confirm that former officer Joshua Hartfield was involved in the January 23 incident in which white officers allegedly beat, tortured, and sexually assaulted Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.
According to Jenkins’ attorney, Malik Shabazz, Jenkins, and Eddie Terrell Parker were in a Braxton home when six white officers forcibly entered without presenting a warrant.
Shabazz claims that the officers immediately restrained the two men and proceeded to torture them by means of kicking, punching, and waterboarding for nearly an hour and a half. The officers are also accused of using racial slurs against the two men and sexually assaulting them.
The attorney also asserts that one officer placed his firearm into Jenkins’ mouth and pulled the trigger with intent to kill the 32-year-old. Jenkins was reportedly hospitalized for multiple weeks following the shooting.The two men are seeking $400 million in punitive and compensatory damages from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department.
Hartfield, who was off duty at the time of the incident, was placed on administrative leave and is subjected to disciplinary action. The officer has resigned from his position.
Other officers that have been named in the incident are Brett McAlpin, Hunter Elward, and Christian Dedmon. All have been fired from their positions.
The incident remains under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi.
