8/14/20
Three Mississippi police officers have been charged with killing a Black man by body-slamming him to the ground and then kicking and punching him last year, the authorities said on Friday. The three officers — Desmond Barney, Lincoln Lampley and Anthony Fox — were indicted this month on charges of second-degree murder in the death of George Robinson, 62, of Jackson, Miss. The officers, who were members of the Jackson Police Department, caused Mr. Robinson’s death in January 2019 by pulling him from his car, throwing him head first onto the roadway pavement, and then striking and kicking him multiple times in the head and chest, according to the indictment, issued by a grand jury in Hinds County, Miss. The indictment said the officers’ actions evinced a “depraved heart, regardless of human life.” Jody E. Owens II, the district attorney in Hinds County, said the officers saw Mr. Robinson sitting in his car on Jan. 13, 2019, when they were canvassing a predominantly Black neighborhood in Jackson for suspects who had shot and killed a pastor, Anthony Longino, in a botched robbery outside his church hours earlier.
The officers, who are also Black, approached Mr. Robinson because they believed they had seen him dealing drugs with another person, although that person was never detained, Mr. Owens said. When the officers ordered Mr. Robinson to get out of his car, he was slow to comply, perhaps because he had survived a stroke, Mr. Owens said. According to witness accounts, Mr. Owens said, officers then proceeded to beat Mr. Robinson. Medical reports, including one from the state coroner, showed that Mr. Robinson died of blunt force trauma to the head and of a bleeding brain, Mr. Owens said. The reports also showed that several of Mr. Robinson’s ribs had been broken, Mr. Owens said. Dennis C. Sweet III, a lawyer who represents Mr. Robinson’s family, said the indictment was “one place where it looks like we’re trying to get some justice for African-Americans who were brutally beaten by police officers.” “It’s been 19 months,” he said, “but at least it’s getting done.”
