Five White Police Officers Lose Their Jobs After Abuse of Two Black Mississippi Men

Five Mississippi deputy sheriffs involved in the assault of two men have been fired or have resigned, officials have said. 32-year-old Michael Corey Jenkins and 35-year-old Eddie Terrell Parker say those  Rankin County Sheriff Department officers entered a home without a warrant in January. They say they then tased them, assaulted them and shot one of them in the mouth.

Jenkins and Parker say that the deputies entered the home without a warrant and after turning off their body cameras. During a 90-minute encounter, the deputies brutally abused them, used stun guns on them, hurled racist slurs, and waterboarded them. Jenkins said one of the deputies also put a gun in his mouth and fired it, leaving him with serious facial injuries.  He was taken to the hospital only later, after deputies refused to assist him, their lawsuit alleges.

 Attorneys for the men have called for charges against the officers. Speaking at a news conference, their attorneys and relatives said the fact the five officers were no longer with the department was a sign of progress, but that more needs to be done.  "They treated our children as if they weren't even human," said Mary Jenkins, the mother of Jenkins, who was shot in the incident.  "It's not enough to fire those deputies because all they will do is go on to another police department and do the same thing."

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey announced on last week that deputies involved in the encounter were terminated following findings from an internal investigation. He said the deputies - whose names he declined to provide - had previously been placed on administrative leave. "We understand that the alleged actions of these deputies have eroded the trust of the public in our department. Rest assured that we will work diligently to restore that trust," Mr Bailey said.

Earlier this year, the DOJ announced it was conducting an investigation into the sheriff's department over civil rights violations, including the incident with Parker and Jenkins and other violent encounters with black men.  Attorneys for the two men, who are both black, have said six white deputies were involved in the incident. They say a sixth officer from another agency may have been involved.  They have called on the sheriff department to release the names.  Jenkins and Parker have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking $400 million in damages.

Deputies claim that on the night of the incident, they carried out a raid in response to a report of drug activity at the home in Braxton, Mississippi.  Although Parker was detained at the Rankin County Jail for possessing drug paraphernalia, prosecutors declined to move forward with charges.  Jenkins has suffered permanent nerve damage as a result of being shot in the mouth.