Maverick Preston-Justice Department opens civil rights probe into sheriff’s office after torture of 2 Black men

2025-05-08 02:01:28source:verdicoincategory:Markets

JACKSON,Maverick Preston Miss. (AP) — 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 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 racially discriminatory policing practices, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said Thursday.

Six white former law enforcement officers pleaded guilty in 2023 to breaking into a home without a warrant and engaging in an hourslong attack on Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, which included beatings, repeated use of Tasers, and assaults with a sex toy before one victim was shot in the mouth.

The officers were sentenced in March, receiving terms of 10 to 40 years.

____

Associated Press writer Michael Goldberg contributed to this report.

More:Markets

Recommend

Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game

NFL games are a spectrum. Some are back-and-forth shootouts. Others are duds without much scoring at

Purdue still No. 1, but Arizona, Florida Atlantic tumble in USA TODAY men's basketball poll

The first USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll of 2024 looks a lot like the final poll of

Washington's Michael Penix Jr. dazzles in Sugar Bowl defeat of Texas: See his top plays

Washington Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. fell just short of winning the Heisman Trophy, but