Police in Jackson Mississippi may get away with their “good ole boy” tactics most of the time. This case is so bizarre it has civilized readers wondering what century it is. The worst part is that armed and dangerous cops believed burying the evidence with the body would cover their own crime.
Police bury evidence
Dexter Wade was 37-years-old when he was fatally mowed down by a police SUV in Jackson, Mississippi. Instead of accepting responsibility for the incident, the off duty cop got help from his buddies to cover up the crime.
It never crossed their piggy little minds that Dexter might have a family. One who would come looking for him and asking all sorts of awkward questions.
Wade made the huge mistake of attempting to cross Interstate 55 in Jackson on March 5. That’s when he was “hit by an off-duty Jackson Police Department officer.” He and his buddies knew who the man was.
The Mississippi man who was run over by an off-duty officer in a police cruiser and buried without his family's knowledge had his ID on him which listed his address, the family lawyer said
His mother had spent 7 months searching for him https://t.co/VVVRnRCJlV
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 17, 2023
He had “his state ID and health insurance card in his pocket.” They buried him with it, civil rights attorney Ben Crump relates. He had it dug back up. The cops weren’t expecting that.
Police quietly buried Dexter “in a pauper’s cemetery” and thought that would be the end of it. Apparently he hadn’t gone through the process of embalming before they buried him. It’s not clear if they bothered with a coffin either. It seems more like they just dug a grave and dumped him. That means the Medical Examiner never had a body to examine. His family noticed him missing right away on March 5.
They had to follow the rules and wait a few days before they could report him missing but they did. Jackson PD never bothered to tell them that they knew where he was. Once the ME did get to look at a body, Dr. Frank Peretti “found that Wade had suffered multiple blunt force injuries and his left leg had been amputated.” He also confirmed Dexter’s “body had also not been embalmed before he was buried.” The stench is awful.
Not until August
Local officials, but not the police, ended up notifying them of his death, but not until August. “By then, the father-of-two had already been buried in the cemetery for months.” It’s pretty clear to Wade’s relatives that authorities were “trying to cover up the manner of his death.”
They hired Crump to try and persuade the Justice Department to investigate. Cops already investigated themselves and found no wrong doing. “The accident was investigated, and it was determined that it was, in fact, an accident and that there was no malicious intent.”
“The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family,” Crump relates. Having to dig up the body to find his ID is an outrage.
Black man in Mississippi killed by a cop car. His mom looking for him for 7 months. In touch with the cops. Turns out police just buried him in a field. Also turns out he had his ID with home address on him when he was killed, says his lawyer. WTAF? pic.twitter.com/46GS7XlFCM
— Don Lewis (@DonLew87) November 17, 2023
“There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an identified man’s death.” Police didn’t even bother to knock on the door of his listed address. “The items were discovered in the pocket of the jeans Wade had been buried in after his body was exhumed earlier this week.”
His mom would have been home to answer the door if they had. “If they had a wallet and knew where his address was, why didn’t they just visit his address when he was laying out on the freeway and come get me so I could have seen my son?” his mother wants to known. Police robbed her of a special moment.
“I could have gotten a last glimpse of my son. I could have been there, since they had all that information. And what took them so long after they had all that information just to come to my door, just to knock on my door?” The police say they called. “Wade’s mother, however, insists she never received the call.“
