Nationwide — Kaychia Bell, an African American mother from Leland, Mississippi, continues to be looking for solutions greater than a yr after her 17-year-old son, Kadarius Smith, was run over and killed by a Leland Police Division cruiser. She says officers have withheld key stories and ignored her calls for for accountability.
On August 21, Bell, her sister Latoya Combs, and supporters held a press convention outdoors the Thad Cochran U.S. Courthouse in Jackson. They known as for the officer concerned to be fired from his present job and demanded full transparency from officers.
Bell stated she has requested repeatedly for the police report and investigative reconstruction report, however has acquired nothing. “What’s it going to take? What’s it going to take? All I wish to know is the reality about my son,” she stated, based on the Clarion Ledger. For her, every single day with out solutions deepens the ache of shedding him.
Combs, Smith’s aunt, described him as a brother, uncle, and buddy who dreamed of transferring to Atlanta to grow to be a realtor for celebrities. “We demand transparency, accountability, and justice. At this time, we honor Kadarius. We is not going to let his identify be forgotten. We is not going to let his reminiscence fade,” she stated.
Smith died on March 21, 2024. An post-mortem revealed he suffered extreme blunt drive trauma, together with large head accidents. On the time, he was a highschool junior. By Could 2025, he ought to have graduated, however as an alternative, Bell walked the stage in his place.
The officer who struck Smith has not been formally named. Bell and civil rights activist John C. Barnett declare the officer left the Leland Police Division and now works for the Greenville Public College District. Each are demanding his termination and prosecution.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and Freeway Patrol confirmed they turned the case over to the native district lawyer in July 2024. Bell and Barnett say the DA declined the case due to a battle of curiosity, transferring it to a decide. The household was by no means advised which decide now has the case.
On the press convention, group leaders and civil rights advocates urged state and federal officers, together with Gov. Tate Reeves and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, to step in. The household’s lawyer, Benjamin Crump, continues to symbolize them as they push for accountability.
For Bell, the struggle is way from over. “I need them to cost that police officer. I need them to prosecute him to the fullest. I need him to really feel the ache that I [me] and my household been feeling since March 21. That’s what I need. I haven’t even acquired an apology from him, the chief of Leland. I hadn’t even acquired an apology from no one,” she stated.
