Officials exhume the body of a Mississippi man buried without his family’s knowledge

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America

RAYMOND, Miss. (AP) — The body of a Mississippi man who died after being hit by a police SUV driven by an off-duty officer was exhumed Monday. The exhumation comes months after officials failed to notify his family of his death. Attorneys for the family of 37-year-old Dexter Wade have hired an independent medical examiner to perform an autopsy on the man’s body. His family will also give him a proper funeral. Wade’s family members, his attorneys and other witnesses say they did not get to see the exhumation because it took place hours before county officials said it would. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has called for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the case.