Two more members of a “Goon Squad” of Mississippi police officers were sentenced to lengthy prison terms Wednesday for torturing two Black men in a blatantly racist assault.
Christian Dedmon got 40 years behind bars, while Daniel Opdyke was sentenced to 17.5 years.
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee called out Dedmon specifically, saying he committed the most “shocking, brutal and cruel attacks imaginable” in the assault on Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker.
Dedmon, 29, and Opdyke, 28, were the third and fourth members of the Rankin County “Goon Squad” to be sentenced for the attack. On Tuesday, Hunter Elward got 20 years and Jeffrey Middleton was sentenced to 17.5 years. Brett McAlpin and Joshua Hartfield had hearings scheduled for Thursday.
All six men were cops in Rankin County on Jan. 24, 2023, when they broke into a home where Jenkins and Parker were staying. Someone in the county had texted McAlpin, a sheriff’s deputy, and told him that two Black men were seen in a home with a white woman.
“I’m there because I’m helping a friend who’s been paralyzed for 20 years,” Parker told the court Wednesday, according to local NBC affiliate WLBT.
The cops, all of whom are white, handcuffed Jenkins and Parker, poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup on them, forced them to strip naked and shocked them with Tasers multiple times. Dedmon and Opdyke then sexually assaulted them with a dildo.
Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, prompting the officers to panic and cover up their assault, which included planting drugs and a gun on the two men.
Opdyke was the first to admit what happened, confessing on April 12. All six officers eventually pleaded guilty in August.
“It’s a historic moment,” Jenkins’ father, Melvin, told WLBT. “I’ve lived in Mississippi 68 years, and I’ve never seen justice like this.”
With News Wire Services
