‘Charge those officers for what they did,’ civil rights activist says
By Michaila Franklin
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JACKSON, Mississippi (WAPT) — A national civil rights activist is calling on Mississippi’s attorney general to act after two Black men said they were brutalized at the hands of law enforcement officers.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey announced last week that the deputies who had been placed on administrative leave were fired as a result of an internal investigation. A Richland police officer resigned after he was placed on administrative leave, according to a statement from Chief Nick McLendon.
A multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by the families of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker accuses the officer and deputies of beating and torturing the two men during a two-hour-long incident at a home in Braxton early this year.
John C. Barnett, founder of True Healing Under God (T.H.U.G.) held a news conference Wednesday outside the office of Attorney General Lynn Fitch, whom he said he had been trying to reach all week.
“Trying to meet with her at the ‘Table of Peace’ to see what she’s going to do because she has the power to put charges — charge those officers for what they did,” Barnett said.
He also called on Fitch to investigate into Bailey, who he believes was a “culprit in this particular case and knew what happened in January.” Bailey is also named in the lawsuit.
After the news conference, Barnett tried to go through security at the Sillers Building in hopes of having a meeting with the attorney general.
“I have a book by Dr. King for her and a $5 Starbucks gift card,” Barnett said.
The officers on the other side of the metal detector wouldn’t let Barnett through.
“We do not comment on open investigations,” officials with the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement to 16 WAPT News. “On background, we have no meeting requests on record, except today’s that was not made of the office, but mentioned to a Capitol Police officer who shared it with our office.”
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