Rankin County Police Department now placed under investigation
RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into a Mississippi sheriff’s department whose officers tortured two Black men in a case that drew national attention and condemnation from top U.S. law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The Justice Department will investigate whether the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force and whether it used discriminatory policing practices in Black neighborhoods..
Six white former law enforcement officers pleaded guilty in 2023 to breaking into a home without a warrant and engaging in an attack on 2 men.
Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, were subjected to severe beatings and tasing.
One of the men was also shot in the mouth.
The officers were sentenced in March, receiving terms of 10 to 40 years.
The DOJ investigation is separate from the Federal investigation into that case.
