JACKSON, MS – by Jerry Mitchell, Steph Quinn and Mukta Joshi – Attorney General Merrick B. Garland met Wednesday with law enforcement officials in Mississippi, days after the Justice Department announced it was widening its investigation into a local sheriff’s office where a group of deputies known as the “Goon Squad” has been accused of brutalizing residents for two decades.
He called the Goon Squad’s acts “a betrayal of their community, a betrayal of their profession and a betrayal of their fellow officers.”
Rankin County came to national attention last year after officers from a self-described “Goon Squad” tortured two Black men in their home and shot one of them, nearly killing him. Six officers were sentenced to federal prison in March, and last week, the Justice Department announced a probe into the county’s policing practices…