US Justice Department investigates Mississippi sheriff's office after 'Goon Squad' torture case: NPR

The Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into policing in Rankin County, Mississippi, where six White former police officers – some of whom called themselves the “Goon Squad” – were found guilty last year of torturing two black men during a warrantless search of their homes.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Thursday that the investigation will examine whether the Rankin County Sheriff's Department has a pattern or practice of “systematic violation.”[ing] Citizens are being violated in their constitutional rights through excessive use of force, unlawful stops, searches and arrests, and discriminatory policing.”

The investigation will also determine whether sheriff's officers “excessively used tasers, illegally entered private homes, used racial slurs and employed dangerous, cruel tactics to attack those entrusted to their care.”

Rankin County is a suburb east of the state capital Jackson. In January 2023, five sheriff's deputies and an off-duty police officer went to the home of a white woman after her white neighbor reported seeing several black men on her property.

When officers arrived, they tortured Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker for nearly two hours during a warrantless search of their home. The abuse included beatings, electric shocks and abuse with a sex toy – all the while shouting racial slurs. The attack only ended after one of the officers shot Jenkins in the mouth. The officers then tried to cover up their crimes by planting drugs and a gun at the crime scene and destroying evidence, Mississippi Public Broadcasting previously reported.

Michael Corey Jenkins (right) and Eddie Terrell Parker (left) with their local attorney Trent Walker at a press conference on March 18 in Jackson, Mississippi.

Rogelio V. Solis/AP

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According to court documents, Parker was a childhood friend of the woman at the home. He helped care for the woman because she had been paralyzed since her youth.

Officers Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke, Christian Dedmon, Joshua Hartfield and Hunter Elward, who shot Jenkins, were eventually arrested, charged in federal and state courts, and held without bail. The former officers all received lengthy prison sentences ranging from 10 to 45 years.

The warrantless raid and the torture by the officers sent shockwaves across the country. It was later revealed that three of the former officers – Elward, Middleton and Opdyke – called themselves members of the “Goon Squad” because of their willingness to use excessive force and then cover it up, court documents show.

Since the attack, the Justice Department has received additional complaints about other cases involving Rankin officers. These complaints include allegations of excessive use of Tasers, unauthorized entry into private homes, uttering racial slurs and using dangerous, cruel tactics to attack people in their custody, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Clarke.

The civil investigation is independent of the federal criminal proceedings against the officers. It will review policies, training and oversight within the Rankin County Sheriff's Department and will also hear views from community members and officers.

The Justice Department said Rankin County officials have agreed to cooperate with the investigation.