Shocking deeds

Black men tortured: white ex-police officers sentenced

The former police officers (from top left): Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and Joshua Hartfield were sentenced to long prison terms.(Bild: The Associated Press)

Six white ex-police officers have been sentenced to long prison terms for the torture and mistreatment of two black men in the US state of Mississippi. On Thursday afternoon (local time), a judge in the city of Jackson announced the sentence for the sixth offender, according to US media reports. The judge had previously imposed long prison sentences for the other perpetrators. All of them must serve between 10 and 40 years in prison.

In January 2023, the officers at the time forced their way into the home of the two black men in the small town of Braxton without a search warrant, according to the US Department of Justice.

Electric shocks, sex toys
There they handcuffed their victims, punched and kicked them, gave them electric shocks and humiliated them with racist insults. They also allegedly abused the men with a sex toy. In a kind of mock execution, one of the perpetrators shot one of the victims in the mouth and broke his jaw.

Michael Corey Jenkins (left) and Eddie Terrell Parker were abused by former police officers.(Bild: The Associated Press)

Protest signs line the sidewalk outside the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse in Jackson(Bild: The Associated Press)

According to the Department of Justice, the officers tried to cover up their actions "while the victim lay bleeding on the ground". According to media reports, this was triggered by a call from a neighbor, also white, who complained that two black men were living with a white woman.