Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump is demanding justice for the household of Kadarius Smith, a 17-year-old who died after a cop allegedly chased after him in a police cruiser, after which ran him over.
Crump acknowledged in a press launch that Smith was strolling house with some associates within the early morning hours of March 21 when a Leland police cruiser “started chasing him,” in line with witness statements. Smith’s mom alleged that her son “was run over from behind leaving police cruiser tire marks on his again.” Smith later died in a hospital.
“The circumstances surrounding Kadarius’ loss of life are really heartbreaking for his mom and family members. This tragedy ought to have by no means occurred and the officers concerned should be held accountable. It’s unconscionable that an officer would fatally run over a teen who was working away from them,” Crump acknowledged.
The officer’s identification hasn’t been launched and the household hasn’t been allowed to see unedited video footage of what occurred that evening, in line with the Mississippi Free-Press.
“We demand that the officer who was driving the cruiser be instantly terminated and that the unedited video footage is launched to the household,” Crump mentioned in Wednesday’s assertion. “Kadarius’ household deserves accountability and solutions as to how and why he was killed by an officer in such an inhumane means.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is reportedly main an investigation into Smith’s loss of life.
Crump is representing the household of Dexter Wade, a Black man who was killed in March 2023 on a Mississippi interstate after being run over by an off-duty cop in a Jackson police cruiser. Authorities didn’t inform the household for months. As a substitute, they buried Wade in a pauper’s grave and left his family members pondering he was lacking earlier than lastly notifying them of his loss of life later that yr.
One other report recognized greater than 200 individuals who had been buried behind the identical penal farm the place Wade had been buried. Some households have come ahead saying they’d no concept of their family members’ whereabouts or their deaths till that report had been launched.
The Leland Police Division hasn’t issued a touch upon Kadarius Smith’s loss of life. Leland, Mississippi is greater than 100 miles northwest of the state capitol Jackson. In accordance with Census information, the city was populated by almost 4,000 individuals in 2022. On the time, 66 p.c of the inhabitants was Black, whereas 28 p.c was white.
