JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Jackson resident Bettersten Wade was happy to see protests erupt across the country after the death in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Wade said it made her sick to see the video of Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, lying face down on the ground in handcuffs as a police officer pressed his knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
But speaking at a news conference in downtown Jackson, Wade said Tuesday that she wishes there were more attention for victims of police brutality closer to home. Her brother, George Robinson, died after being beaten to death by officers in Jackson in January 2019, she said.
“It was good to see that we had people marching for George Floyd, but I want justice for George Robinson too,” she said at Sweet & Associates Law Firm, where she stood with several families of alleged victims of police brutality. “What about our George? … We want the city of Jackson to stand up and tell us what they’re going to do about us.”
Wade was among family members of four black men - Robinson, Mario Clark, Lee Bonner and John Knight III - who were allegedly either injured or killed by police in the past two years. Each family has filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Jackson with the help of the law firm.
Robinson died after an altercation with officers who were on the lookout for a man accused of killing a pastor in Robinson’s neighborhood, according to news reports. Robinson was being searched by officers when he sustained a head injury, officers said. Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart ruled his death a homicide. The autopsy showed blunt-force-trauma to the head. Two different men were later charged in the pastor’s killing.
John Knight, father of John Knight III, said local families are fed up with feeling overlooked when national stories are in the spotlight.
“We had a successful march for George Floyd, thousands of people came out,” Knight said, referring to the march in Jackson on Saturday. “We had senators, we had legislators, the city council … But we have crimes against citizens right here in our own city that we need to deal with before we go abroad to try to be some heroes and superheros.”
Knight’s family said he was beaten by a Jackson police officer during an unlawful traffic stop in 2018. Knight, then 19, survived, but was severely injured. A Jackson police officer, Vincent Lampkin, was later fired from the department and sentenced to a year in jail on charges of simple assault and simple assault to create fear, according to news reports.
Attorney Dennis Sweet III said his team is working with the new Hinds County district attorney, Jody Owens, on how to proceed with the cases.
The Jackson Police Department, the mayor’s office and the city communications office did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday.
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Leah Willingham is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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