Six Former Mississippi Cops, Some Known as ‘Goon Squad,’ Plead Guilty to Torturing Black Men

Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers, some of whom referred to themselves as “The Goon Squad,” pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges in a brutal, 90-minute torture session of two Black men that ended with an officer shooting one victim in the mouth.

Former Rankin County Sheriff’s Department employees Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke pleaded guilty to their roles in the January assault, as did former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield, who was off-duty when he took part in the warrantless raid.

"They became the criminals they swore to protect us from," U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca said Thursday. "Now, they'll be treated as the criminals as they are."

The officers, all of whom are white, went to the home in Braxton, Mississippi in the early hours of January 24 after a white area resident complained that Black people were staying with the white woman who owned the house.

Without a warrant, they forced their way into the home, handcuffed Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, then tortured them for roughly 90 minutes, using stun guns, a sex toy and other objects, according to court documents.

Dedmon, Middleton, Hartfield and Elward all repeatedly electrocuted the victims with stun guns to test whether the sheriff’s department or the police department had more powerful weapons.

Upon finding a sex toy in the home, Opdyke forced it into the mouth of Parker, 35, and tried to do the same to Jenkins, 32, according to court information cited by Mississippi Today. Dedmon threatened to further sodomize the men with the toy, according to that report.

Elward held the two men down as Dedmon poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup onto their heads and into their mouths, as well as cooking grease onto Parker’s head, the outlet reported. Elward also pelted the men with eggs.

Throughout the assault, they referred to the men using racial slurs, while warning “them to stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River — areas with higher concentrations of Black residents,” according to court documents.

The officers then ordered the men to strip and shower in an attempt to hide evidence of the assault.

McAlpin was trying to steal a military uniform from the home when he heard two gunshots, according to Mississippi Today.

The first was fired by Dedmon into the home’s yard. The second was fired by Elward into Jenkins’ mouth.

In what was supposed to be a “mock execution,” Elward forced his gun into Jenkins’ mouth and repeatedly pulled the trigger, according to Mississippi Today. 

The first time Elward pulled the trigger, the gun didn’t discharge. But the second time, it did, with a bullet lacerating Jenkins’ tongue and breaking his jaw before exiting through his neck, according to court filings.

The officers then tried to cover up the true nature of the assault by planting a gun in the home and accusing Jenkins of trying to shoot Elward, according to court records. They also planted methamphetamine on Jenkins, and threw the hard drive from the home’s surveillance camera system into a river, records show.

All false charges against Jenkins and Parker were ultimately dropped.

The officers pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, as well as depriving the men of their rights by ignoring Jenkins’ need for medical care.

Dedmon and Elward additionally pleaded guilty to discharging a gun in the commission of a violent crime.

Dedmon and Elward each face up to 120 years plus life in prison. Opdyke faces up to 100 years, McAlpin faces 90 years, and Hartfield and Middleton each face up to 80 years. All of the men also face millions of dollars in fines. 

They’re expected to plead guilty to additional state charges later this month.

The five deputies variously resigned or were fired by late June, and Hartfield was fired.

Some members of the group referred to themselves as “The Goon Squad” due to “their willingness to use excessive force and not to report it,” according to court documents.

Dedmon, Elward and Opdyke separately pleaded guilty to another three federal felony offenses for an unrelated December 2022 incident. In that case, Dedmon beat, used a Taser on and fired a gun near the head of a white man to coerce a confession, as Elward and Opdyke stood by, according to prosecutors.

Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing Jenkins and Parker, thanked the Department of Justice in a statement issued through Black Lawyers for Justice.

“These guilty pleas are historic for justice against rogue police torture in Rankin County and all over America,” Shabazz said. “Today is truly historic for Mississippi and for civil and human rights in America.”

With Associated Press