Mississippi Man Ran Over by Cop Is Buried In a ‘Pauper’s’ Grave While His Family Searched In Vain for Seven Months; Mayor Insists There Was No ‘Malicious Intent’

The mayor of Jackson, Mississippi instructed the general public what he thought concerning the killing of a Black man who was run over by an off-duty cop in a police automotive and whose loss of life was stored a secret from his household.

Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba opted to name Dexter Wade’s loss of life a “tragic” and “unlucky accident,” but in addition said there was “no malicious intent” on the a part of metropolis authorities who buried Wade with out notifying his mom.

Wade’s mom, Bettersten Wade, not too long ago retained the authorized providers of civil rights legal professional Ben Crump, who known as this horrible ordeal “a residing nightmare for any mom.”

“The secrecy surrounding [Dexter’s] loss of life, the alleged concealment of important info, and the callous burial in a pauper’s area will not be simply oversights — they’re a grave miscarriage of justice,” Crump stated.

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Wade seemed for her 37-year-old son for over seven months after he mysteriously disappeared in March.

Nevertheless, simply an hour after Wade left residence on March 5, he was struck by an off-duty corporal, whose identify has not been launched, in a Jackson police automotive as he was crossing an interstate freeway. Authorities took the physique to a morgue the place it went unclaimed for months.

What provides insult to damage is that they knew the names of each Dexter and his mom and by no means contacted Bettersten even after she filed a lacking particular person report. When Wade known as police about her lacking son, they stated nobody had been capable of finding him.

“That they had me on the lookout for him all that point, and so they knew who he was,” Bettersten Wade instructed NBC Information.

As a substitute, the county buried Wade’s physique in an unmarked grave in a penal farm in late July. They didn’t inform his mom till late August.

No sobriety take a look at was run on the cop who killed Wade. He was additionally by no means cited for violating any visitors legal guidelines. Authorities did, nevertheless, run a toxicology take a look at on Wade’s physique which revealed that he had PCP and methamphetamine in his system. The household stated he additionally suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar dysfunction, however there’s nothing to attach the crash to his psychological or physiological state on the time he was hit.

After information of Wade’s loss of life made headlines this week, Lumumba known as for a second of silence whereas delivering his 2023 State of the Metropolis deal with in downtown Jackson on Thursday.

“It’s tragic to lose your little one. It’s tragic to undergo the results of getting to bury your little one earlier than you cross. However so as to add insult to that trauma, it’s much more tough to not have the power to have a correct burial to your little one,” Lumumba stated. “And for that, we remorse a circumstance that Mr. Wade’s household has needed to cope with.” 

No admitted errors. No accountability. And no promise of reform or pledge of change.

The closest the mayor got here to providing some semblance of transparency was when he accounted for what led to the poor metropolis and police response to Wade’s loss of life.

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“There was an absence of communication with the lacking particular person’s division, the coroner’s workplace, and accident investigation. Due to that, they had been unable to search out (Dexter Wade’s) household inside an expeditious time period and he was later buried as soon as the coroner went to the Hind’s County Board of Supervisors with a purpose to get permission to take action,” the mayor stated.

Studies present that three days after Wade’s loss of life, the Hinds County coroner’s workplace tried to name his mom as soon as, though Bettersten stated she by no means obtained a name.

Lumumba stated some confusion arose over whether or not the coroner’s workplace had the right telephone quantity, however Bettersten said that the quantity listed on the coroner’s report was correct. After that sole try to make contact, the workplace promptly turned the data over to the Jackson Police Division “as a result of it’s their jurisdiction in order that they will do the correct loss of life notification.”

Whereas Bettersten instructed NBC she appreciates the sympathetic phrases from Mayor Lumumba, she stated they aren’t sufficient to handle the town’s failures.

“You’re going to inform me that you’re simply going to get in contact by telephone to inform me my son is useless?” she instructed NBC Information. “What occurred to a knock on the door to inform me my son is useless? Are you telling me that you simply all didn’t inform me the entire time since you didn’t have the right telephone quantity? I paid dearly for a mistake once you all might have simply stepped on my doorstep.”

Crump has but to disclose if the Wade household will take authorized motion.

The Mississippi Free Press reported that final yr, Bettersten Wade and her household filed a lawsuit towards Jackson Police after her brother, George Robinson, was crushed to loss of life by police in 2019. In August 2022, a jury convicted a JPD officer of manslaughter in that case and that cop was sentenced to 5 years in jail.