Last August, six former Mississippi police officers, including five former employees of the Rankin County Sheriff's Office (RCSO), admitted to punching, kicking, tasing, torturing, and humiliating two black men, Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, during an unlawful home invasion on January 24. The cops, who ostensibly were conducting a drug investigation, "tortured and inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims, egregiously violated the civil rights of citizens who they were supposed to protect, and shamefully betrayed the oath they swore as law enforcement officers," said Attorney General Merrick Garland. The officers "committed heinous and wanton acts of violence," said U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca, thereby "violat[ing] their oaths," "disgracing the badge," and "becom[ing] the criminals they were sworn to protect us from."
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey also claimed to be shocked. "The badge worn by so many has been tarnished by the criminal acts of these few individuals," Bailey said at an August 3 press conference. "This is a perfect example of why people don't trust the police, and never in my life did I think it would happen in this department….I never, ever could imagine any of these five individuals [were] capable of these horrendous crimes….I'm just floored and shocked….These guys were so far past any boundary that I know of that it's unbelievable what they did….This was a bunch of criminals that did a home invasion."
