Top Findings

● We have evidence to suggest that, over the course of nearly two decades, a loose band of
Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies tortured at least 20 people, according to the United
Nations definition of torture.1 These 20 alleged victims are in addition to Michael Jenkins
and Eddie Parker and the second incident identified by federal investigators.
● Our earliest torture allegation comes from 2004. Our most recent occurred just a few days
before Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Parker were tortured.
● These alleged victims claim deputies used the following methods to torture them:
○ Beating people while they were handcuffed, held down, tied down.
○ Shocking people with Tasers while they were restrained
○ Sexually assaulting people with sex toys or flashlights
○ Strangling and/or waterboarding (hung by a belt, choked with bare hands,
washcloth stretched over mouth and gallons of water poured over it)
○ Burning people with blow torches or molten metal
○ Forcing guns or Tasers into people’s mouths
○ Other unnecessary violence (thrown through a mirror, punched awake,
pistol-whipped, etc. while person claims they were compliant)
○ Threatening people with death or imprisonment if they spoke out about their
experience
○ Humiliating people to dehumanize them and inflict psychological harm (e.g.
racial epithets or other derogatory language, throwing food at them, sexual
taunting, shaming people’s military service or insulting close relatives, etc.)
● There are patterns that show up across many of these cases
○ Deputies often used torture methods that would not leave their faces injured
(although they sometimes got out of hand anyway)
○ Nearly every alleged victim was arrested for having or selling small amounts of
narcotics, mostly methamphetamine, or for having some sort of drug
paraphernalia.
○ Nearly every alleged victim was busted during a narcotics sale initiated by a
confidential informant.
○ None of these arrests were for large drug busts. Of our 20 alleged victims, the
largest bust we’re aware of was for $420 worth heroin.
○ Nearly all of our alleged victims say deputies did not show them warrants or
identify themselves as police when they entered their homes, and often entered
their homes without knocking.
○ They often told their alleged victims to leave the county.

1
United Nations Definition of Torture: any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is
intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a
confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or
intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such
pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or
other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or
incidental to lawful sanctions.
 ○ Strange details - they were fond of ruining people’s food or using food to
humiliate people; when someone had an injury, they would ask them where and
then attack that area; they had competitions with their tasers to see which was the
strongest.
● We’ve verified these cases through…
○ Witnesses who either saw these torture incidents firsthand or say the victims
described what happened to them in detail shortly after the incident.
○ Incident reports that confirm the sequence of events as told by victims and
witnesses.
○ Criminal and civil court records to verify details about the arrest and locate
testimony laying out their allegations.
○ Mugshots that show several arrestees were injured in ways that match their
accounts when they were booked into jail, although deputies did not describe
using force during arrests
○ Taser logs that support claims of being shocked by deputies far beyond the
nationally recognized limits on Taser use and show deputies failed to report their
Taser use in numerous cases.
○ Reviewing alleged victims’ personal documentation: medical records showing
they were hospitalized immediately after their arrest for related injuries and
photos taken of their wounds following their release or of evidence left at the
scene of the arrest.
● Sheriff Bryan Bailey claims he had no knowledge of his deputies’ actions during the
January torture of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, but…
○ Department records show at least a dozen deputies carried out these alleged
torture sessions, including

○ Multiple lawsuits allege deputies physically abused people over many years.
○ Several alleged victims say they filed formal complaints or reached out to Sheriff
Bailey personally to report what happened to them.
i. These people say they left Sheriff Bailey phone messages at his office,
showed reporters Facebook messages they sent to him personally, detailed
letters they wrote to the department, or described phone calls or in-person
meetings they had with the sheriff.
ii. In a case where a former Hinds County Sheriff’s deputy claims he was
tortured, the man says he called Bailey to tell him what happened and
Bailey accused him of being a dirty cop and hung up on him.
Criteria for case verification

All confirmed torture cases include the following:

1. An interview with the alleged victim and/or a lawsuit in which they lay out their claims.
2. A booking report showing the person was arrested by the Rankin County Sheriff’s
Department at a date and time that corroborates their account.
3. A sheriff’s department incident report that corroborates the basic setting and sequence of
events described by the alleged victim and any primary witnesses.
4. A corroborating account from at least one witness of these two types:
i. Primary Witnesses – someone who was present for the incident and saw
and/or heard the torture firsthand.
ii. Secondary Witnesses – someone to whom the victim described their
torture within a few days of the incident.

For many cases, we have additional documentation that helps verify these claims:
○ Taser logs that confirm Taser use at the time of the incident, corroborated with
department records that prove a deputy was involved in the incident
○ Pictures of injuries or of the room where the alleged attacks occurred
○ Medical records that confirm injuries and the involvement of deputies
○ Archived emails/texts/DMs describing an incident or showing complaints filed
with the sheriff/department.
Taser records show James Rayborn and Gerrad Bacon triggered their department-issued Tasers
multiple times that night. But Carter said some deputies used Tasers that were small, black
squares, suggesting the deputies may have used personal Tasers in addition to their
department-issued weapons.
Evidence:
● Interview with Sam Carter
● Interview with Christopher Holloway
● Interviews with three additional eyewitnesses to the raid.
● Interview with Chelsea Holloway (Christopher Holloway’s wife, who heard about the
incident a year after it occurred)
● Court records
● Incident report
● Booking sheet
● CAD records
● Taser logs showing James Rayborn and Gerrad Bacon deployed their Tasers multiple
times.
 Jeremy Travis Paige

Date: 8/1/2018

Location: 120 Hwy 80 Pearl, MS & 220 Pine Park Drive Pearl, MS

Deputies: ,

Summary of allegations: Rankin County deputies led by Brett McAlpin arrested Travis Paige
during a drug bust initiated by a confidential informant. Paige claims he was beaten unconscious
in the street. When he came to, he had been handcuffed and dragged into his home. A resident of
the home claimed they were held at gunpoint by the deputies who arrived at their house and told
them to leave because they would not want to stick around for what was going to happen.
Deputies sent the resident to a nearby friend’s house. Paige and another witness claim McAlpin
and another deputy brutally beat him in the living room for nearly an hour until his eyes were
swollen shut and his tooth fell out.
The deputies took Paige into his roommate’s room, stretched a washcloth across Paige’s mouth
and poured gallons of water across the washcloth. A deputy shot his taser into Paige’s groin and
shocked him while he was being waterboarded. Another deputy pressed a burning cigarette into
Paige’s leg, which is still scarred. Deputies forced Paige to use his phone to arrange drug deals
with his friends between beatings and waterboarding. A witness, who had been taken outside,
heard Paige screaming throughout the incident. Paige secretly texted his family that deputies
were trying to kill him. Family members drove by the house. McAlpin discovered the texts Paige
sent and called the family members, telling them that if they didn’t leave they would be arrested.
When none of Paige’s friends took the bait, deputies dragged him to a patrol car where one
deputy was waiting for him. Before they left, according to Paige and a witness, the deputies
bagged the bedding he was tortured on and removed it from the house.The deputy threatened to
kill Paige if he bled on him, then beat him until they arrived at the county jail. When one resident
returned, their bed frame was broken and their mattress stripped of sheets. There was blood
splatter on the wall and a plastic cereal container from her kitchen half filled with water. A
cigarette butt was floating in the water. The roommate took photos of the blood and the condition
of the bed. Paige’s son also also visited the home after the arrest and confirmed the presence of
blood and the stripped bed.
Paige said the nurses at intake cleared his booking without medical attention, though they noted
some of his injuries in a medical report.
Evidence:
● Interview with Travis Paige
● Interview with four witnesses to the event.
● Travis Paige’s civil case including complaint laying out allegations
● Photos of Paige’s scar from the cigarette burn
● Paige’s mugshot showing his severely swollen and bruised face
● Photo of the homeowners bed stripped of its sheets
● Photo of blood splatter on the wall.
● Full civil court records
● Incident report where McAlpin describes Paige resisting being taken from his vehicle by
holding the steering wheel and waving his arm and then kicking at the deputies while
they subdued him. It also describes residents of the home consenting for their property to
be searched, conflicting witness statements.
● RCSD CAD report
● McAlpin’s testimony during Paige’s trial, where he says under oath that Paige’s injuries
occurred during the “tussle” during the traffic stop, not in Paige’s home.
● Taser logs indicating James Rayborn and Luke Stickman deployed their tasers during the
initial hour of the arrest, although taser use is not mentioned in the incident report.
Mitchell Hobson and Rick Loveday
Date: 10/23/2018
Location: 5106 Meadowwood Dr. Brandon, MS
Deputies:

Summary of allegations: Rankin County Sheriff’s Deputies led by narcotics investigator Brett
McAlpin entered Hinds County Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Loveday’s trailer home after a
confidential informant allegedly performed a controlled drug buy on the property. Deputies
tortured Mitchell Hobson, a Black man who was inside the trailer, for more than an hour,
waterboarding him, beating his bare feet with batons, shocking his legs with tasers, choking him
with a lamp cable, sticking a taser gun in his mouth, and punching him in the face and body
repeatedly while demanding Hobson lead them to a drug stash. When Hobson told the officers
that he had evidence on his phone that he hadn’t come to sell drugs, the officers smashed his
phone to pieces.
Deputies dragged a naked Loveday from bed into his kitchen, he said, where deputies poured
spices on his naked buttocks, smashed a chocolate cake into his face, attempted to shove a
Maglite into his anus and beat him. When Loveday warned McAlpin he was taking blood
thinners and could die from their blows, the deputy punched him repeatedly in the face while
saying, “I. Don’t. Give. A. F—-.” A witness saw Loveday’s beating and heard Hobson being
beaten in the other room. She talked with him about what happened after his release. Loveday
said he also heard Hobson being beaten in the other room.
Loveday alleges deputies stole several of his guns, several gun magazines, hundreds of rounds of
ammunition, a buck knife and an American flag from his home. Loveday only retrieved one of
the guns taken from his home, given to him by McAlpin weeks later, along with several of
McAlpin’s own gun magazines from his personal collection.
Loveday claims he called Sheriff Bryan Bailey to tell him about the incident, ask him to force his
deputies to return his guns and apologize for beating him. Bailey accused Loveday of recording
the call and hung up on him, Loveday said.
Evidence:
● Interview with Rick Loveday
● Interview with Mitchell Hobson
● Interview with one direct witness and one witness who heard about the event shortly after
it occurred.
● Mitchell Hobson’s medical records showing his hospitalization the night of his arrest for
injuries that match his description of his wounds.
● Booking sheet with color mug shots that show both men’s injuries.
● Photos of Rick Loveday’s injuries following his release.
● CAD records indicating the officers present.
● Incident report that describes no force used during the arrest and voluntary admittance
into the home, conflicting witness testimony.
● Taser logs indicating that Christian Dedmon used his taser during the time window of the
arrest.
In the bedroom, two deputies allegedly placed Jerry Manning’s legs under a bed, knocked the
bed posts out and used the bed to pin him to the floor while they tased him repeatedly in the
genitals, torso and temples. The deputies told Manning, who was handcuffed, they’d just gotten
new Tasers and asked him which device hurt more. When he said they both hurt, the deputies
continued to tase him until he told them which was worse. The officers then wrapped a pair of
blue jeans around Manning’s face and punched him repeatedly. They then dragged him into the
kitchen and used a blowtorch to melt the handle of a metal nut-cracker, dripping molten metal
onto Manning’s bare thigh. McAlpin drew a swastika on Manning’s forehead, which is visible in
his mugshot. Under McAlpin’s orders, one officer leaned Manning against a chair and strapped a
belt around his neck. The officer then stood on the chair and pulled the belt up, causing Manning
to hang by his own body weight until he thought he would die.
In another room, deputies allegedly handcuffed Adam Cody Porter and asked him where the
drugs were. When he couldn’t tell them, they threw him through a glass mirror, kicked him in the
torso, and took his pocket knife from him, using it to shred his pants to ribbons.
James Elbert Lynch was asleep when deputies broke into the house and kicked his bedroom door
in. When he asked to see a warrant they grabbed him by his hair and dragged him into the living
room. One of the deputies stomped on his face. Then Brett McAlpin asked him where the drugs
were. When Lynch said he didn’t know, McAlpin held a lit propane torch to the bottoms of
Lynch’s feet.
The officers took Curro’s car keys from him and searched his vehicle. Curro claimed deputies
stole knives, ammunition, and a pair of collectible handcuffs from his car. Curro and the other
occupants in the house were arrested. While he was in jail, Rankin County Deputies searched
Curro’s home and confiscated his firearm collection. After Curro was released, he and his lawyer
attempted to retrieve Curro’s guns from the sheriff’s department. Brett McAlpin threatened to
arrest Curro when they came to the station. When he finally retrieved them, Curro said most of
the guns were damaged and parts had been stolen from them.

Evidence:
● Interview with Garry Curro
● Interview with Jerry Manning
● Interview with Adam Cody Porter
● Interview with James Elbert Lynch
● Interviews with two additional witnesses to the event.
● Booking sheets for all the men
● CAD records
● Incident report which describes the men refusing to open the door and one hiding from
them, but no use of force implemented besides forcing the door open.
● Taser logs which confirm taser use by Rayborn, Grogan and Stickman during the
timeframe of the arrest.
● Court records for Lynch and Curro related to the incident.
● Interview with Fred Trimble
● Interview with three witnesses who Trimble told about the incident shortly after it
occurred.
● Incident reports of the responding deputies that describe McAlpin arranging the drug
deal, Zachary Acy shocking Trimble twice with his taser to stop him from fleeing, and
deputies Dedmon and Stickman striking Trimble with the least amount of force necessary
to arrest him after Tremble recovered from the Taser shock and started to punch them.
● Use of force reports from deputies, Acy, Dedmon, and Stickman describing the same
series of events in the incident report.
● CAD records
● Lab results from evidence
● Photos of Trimbles injuries after he was released from jail.
● Copies of several 2020 emails sent by Trimble’s family to the NAACP and ACLU in
which the family describes Trimble’s allegations in detail. These emails match Trimble’s
account.
 Robert Jones

Date: 6/22/2018

Location: 775 N. Bierdeman Rd. # 29 Pearl, MS.

Deputies:

Summary of allegations: A confidential informant invited Robert Jones and another man to a
party. Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies intercepted the men as they drove to the party and
rammed their car. Deputies allegedly pulled the men from the car, beat them, and shocked them
with Tasers. The deputies demanded to know where the drugs were, and the second man told
them Jones had swallowed meth before they had arrived. The deputies handcuffed the men and
drove them to a remote area. .

They allegedly took them out of the car and beat them again. Then they threw Jones into a
muddy ditch filled with water and shot Taser prongs into his chest above his heart. Jones said he
momentarily lost consciousness and thought he’d died.

An unnamed deputy leading the group pulled a stick from the woods, lubricated it with an
unknown liquid, shoved it down Jones’s throat and twisted it while choking Jones. “You like
that, don’t you?” the deputy allegedly said. Jones vomited blood, but no drugs came up. The
deputy gave up on finding drugs and said, “Both of y’all are fittin’ to die tonight.”
The deputy allegedly put his gun in Jones’s handcuffed hand and said they could kill him and tell
everyone that he’d tried to grab their service weapon. The deputy then shot his weapon into the
air and said no one was around to hear it. The deputy grabbed the other man from the squad car
and beat him again. Then Jones heard a gunshot. He ran for his life, still handcuffed, fearing the
deputies had killed the man. Jones fell into the ditch as he fled and the officers Tased him in the
water again. Then they took him back to the truck.

They drove the men back to the trailer park. Brett McAlpin arrived on the scene, and allegedly
called the men sweet cinnamon rolls, a mocking term for Simon City Royals gang members, then
told them that if they came back to Rankin County, worse things would happen to them.

Evidence:
● Interview with Robert Jones
● Interview with two witnesses who Jones told about the event, one on the night of his
arrest, another a year later.
● CAD records which verified the timeline of events.
● Booking sheet with mugshot showing his face severely swollen and covered in dried dirt,
matching his claim that he was thrown into a muddy ditch.
● Incident report where Thornton describes the men driving their car into his when he
turned on his blue lights and attempting to flee, but no use of force.
 Joe Dewayne Frazier

Date: 11/13/2004
Location: Old Lake Road, Brandon MS (Robin Hood)
Deputies: Brett McAlpin
Summary of allegations: Brett McAlpin pulled over Frazier on Old Lake Road in Robinhood
while he was driving home from work. McAlpin searched him and found a small crack rock.
McAlpin allegedly arrested Frazier and drove him to the end of Apple Wood Ln., a remote
wooded area in Robinhood, where he threw him to the ground while he was handcuffed and
kicked him in the legs and torso repeatedly. Then he pressed a gun to the back of Frazier’s head
and threatened to kill him. He took Fraizer to jail and the same day, McAlpin allegedly strapped
him to a restraint chair, poured water over him and repeatedly tased him in the groin until one of
his testicles was permanently damaged.
Evidence:
● Multiple interviews with Joe Dewayne Frazier
● Interview with secondary witness Frazier told about the incident shortly after it occurred.
● Incident report that describes the search, Fraizer’s compliance, and no use of force
implemented.
● Booking sheet that confirms the time of his arrest, what he was charged with, where he
was arrested, and his arresting officer.
 Christopher Hillhouse

The department did not provide a mugshot for this incident.

Date: 10/7/2009
Location: Manor Rd. and Rice Dr., Pearl, MS
Deputies:
Summary of allegations: On October 7, 2009, Brett McAlpin arranged for a CI to buy $80
worth of marijuana from Christopher Hillhouse. The CI met with Hillhouse and gave him the
money. According to Hillhouse, he knew the CI had been arrested earlier that day and suspected
he was setting him up. Hillhouse claims he spent the money to add minutes to his phone, buy
candy for neighborhood kids and put gas in his friend’s truck. The police report shows deputies
followed Hillhouse to the Dollar General and Wal-Mart nearby before he returned home.
Deputies came into the home Hillhouse shared with his parents. According to Karen Ramsey,
they said “Police” and “Where’s my fucking money” as they let themselves inside the home. The
deputies did not show or mention a warrant to Ramsey.
When the deputies caught Hillhouse, they handcuffed him and forced him to kneel in the grass
outside his home while one deputy held his handcuffed hands behind his back so he couldn’t
move. McAlpin demanded to know where his money was. When Hillhouse said he did not know,
the deputy punched him in the stomach. McAlpin asked again where his money was. Hillhouse
gave the same answer, and McAlpin used his Maglite to hit Hillhouse in the face, knocking out
one tooth and chipping another. Karen Ramsey witnessed this and began to argue with the
deputies, who threatened to arrest her if she did not go inside. She complied. Ramsey did not
witness any more of the incident.
According to Hillhouse, McAlpin then took him inside a white panel van, still handcuffed, and
closed the doors. Inside, he beat Hillhouse for several minutes, demanding to know where his
money was. He then took Hillhouse to jail.

Evidence:
● Interview with Christopher Hillhouse
● Interview with Karen Ramsey (mother, primary witness)
● Booking sheet for arrest which confirms time and date of arrest as well as his charges.
● Criminal court records which confirm his charges and arresting officer.
● Incident report confirming all aspects of the case except the beating and warrantless
entry.
 Dustin Hale

Date: 11/13/2010
Location: Robinhood, Brandon, MS
Deputies:
Summary of allegations: Dustin Hale, 17, took a gun from his mother’s home and went to a
party in Robinhood, where he pointed the gun at his girlfriend’s brother. Someone called the
police and sheriff’s deputies arrived soon after. The deputies corralled everyone into the house
and confiscated their phones. They allegedly dragged Hale to a chair, where deputies allegedly
stood in a circle and took turns beating and Tasing Hale until he said he urinated on himself.
Deputy Brett McAlpin stayed inside the house and forced Hale’s ex-girlfriend to watch by
grabbing her head and jerking it into position when she tried to turn away.

Evidence:
● Interview with Dustin Hale
● Interview with two secondary witnesses who Mr. Hale told about the incident shortly
after it occurred.
● Booking sheet for arrest which confirms time and date of arrest as well as his charges.
● Criminal court records which confirm his arresting officer, Kevin Poole, and indicate that
he was never charged for the gun, just alcohol, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and
failure to comply.
 Gary Frith

Date: 9/5/2012

Location: Rural Rankin County

Deputies:

Summary of allegations: In a civil lawsuit, Frith claimed that deputies caught him after he fled
an attempted traffic stop in his vehicle. Frith surrendered to the deputies, who then threw him to
the ground, kicked and punched him in the torso, face and hands until he was covered in blood
and his eye was swollen closed. Deputy Kevin Poole then choked him in the back of a squad car
and another deputy threatened to shoot and kill Frith when he got out of jail. At the county jail, a
nurse cleaned the blood from Frith’s face and bandaged his wound before taking his picture
(evidenced in his mugshot). Frith claimed he tried to tell Justice Court Judge Kent McDaniel
about the incident, but the judge laughed at him and brushed him off.

Evidence:
● Civil lawsuit containing Frith’s allegations.
● CAD records which verify the timeline of the account.
● Incident report that describes no use of force during the arrest.
● Booking sheet which shows Frith’s face heavily bandaged.
 Ronald Shinstock

Date: 3/14/2015
Location: 113 Eastview Dr. Flowood, MS
Deputies:
Summary of the allegations: Deputies raided Ronald Shinstock’s home after a confidential
informant who worked with Shinstock set him up. Deputies held Shinstock’s wife, their kids and
friends at gunpoint while searching the house. The officers allegedly took Shinstock and another
man behind the house, where deputies under the direction of Brett McAlpin smacked the other
man several times until his ears bled while demanding he confess to selling drugs and set up
another drug buy. Another pair of officers slapped Shinstock, made him strip naked and
threatened to hit his groin with a Maglite.
Evidence:
● Interview with Ron Shinstock
● Interview with two witnesses to the event
● Booking sheet
● CAD records which show arresting officers and confirm the timeline of the incident
● Court records that document his initial case and his appeal.
 Carvis Johnson

Date: 2/23/19
Location: Old River Place Brandon, MS
Deputies:
Summary of allegations: Rankin deputies pulled over Carvis Johnson after catching him in a
controlled drug buy. Johnson claimed in a federal lawsuit that Deputy Jamie Perry placed a gun
in his mouth and threatened to kill him if he did not say where his drugs were located. Johnson
claimed he didn’t have drugs, and Deputies Christian Dedmon and James Rayborn proceeded to
punch and kick him in the face. Deputy Brett McAlpin allegedly told Johnson that he could get
killed for bringing drugs from Jackson into his county.
Johnson claimed in his lawsuit that deputies threw him into a truck bed and took turns beating
his back and buttocks with a crowbar (in an interview, Johnson clarified that they used a car jack
handle). Johnson’s booking photo shows cuts and swelling on his face.
According to Johnson the county settled his lawsuits for $30,000. His family is still waiting to
receive most of the settlement.
Evidence:
● Interview with Carvis Johnson
● Interview with a secondary witness who he told about the event shortly after it occurred.
● Carvis Johnson’s civil case laying out allegation
● Criminal court records which include the “defendant's version” describing the assault.
● McAlpin’s incident report which makes no mention of use of force.
● Johnson’s booking sheet where his mugshot shows lacerations and swelling on his face.
 Maurice Porter

Date: 3/26/19
Location: 100 Garrett Rd. Florence, MS
Deputies:
Summary of allegations: Deputies stopped Maurice Porter after he was set up by a confidential
informant. According to Porter, while he was still seated in his vehicle, Investigator Dedmon
began calling him the N-word and threatened to beat him. Dedmon threatened to shock Porter in
the groin with his Taser, so Porter ran away. Deputies caught up to him and tased him twice as he
ran. Porter fell to the ground, where the deputies punched and kicked him.
The deputies allegedly led Porter back to the car, but refused to let him stand. “No, the Black
monkey cannot walk with us,” Porter remembers them saying before they dragged him back to
the vehicle by his hair and shoulders. When they got him to the car, Brett McAlpin slammed a
nightstick into Porter’s legs multiple times, knocking him to the ground while deputies continued
hurling racial epithets. The deputies shoved Porter into a squad car, where he vomited.
When Porter’s mother arrived, deputies wouldn’t let her speak to her son and told her they were
going to search her house. Catherine drove home and the deputies followed her. The deputies
searched the house and seized two guns. They never showed any family member a warrant to
search the home, the family claims. At the end of the raid, Ms. Porter said, the deputies noticed
she had security cameras installed on her home. The deputies cut the cables to the cameras and
took at least one of the cameras and the memory bank that held the footage. When Ms. Porter
spoke to her son from jail the next day, he told her what happened to him.
While deputies Grogan and Stickman filed Use of Force reports, department Taser logs show the
deputies under-reported how many times they used their Tasers. According to records provided
by the department, Dedmon did not file a Use of Force report, but Taser logs show he triggered
his Taser twice during the timeframe of the incident, as defined by the CAD report.

Evidence:
● Interview with Maurice Porter
● Interview with his mother, Catherine Porter
● Interviews with Porter’s grandmother and brother, who both witnessed the home raid and
theft of security cameras.
● Criminal court records.
● Use of force reports from deputies Grogan and Stickman. Grogan describes trying and
failing to deploy his taser and then tackling Porter and punching him to gain control.
Stickman describes tasing Porter while Grogan wrestled with him on the ground.
● Taser logs that show deputies Dedmon, Stickman and Grogan all used their Tasers that
night. Stickman and Grogan under-reported their Taser use. Dedmon did not report his
Taser use at all.
● Booking sheet which shows split lip
● CAD records that list the officers present.
● Incident report by McAlpin which describes the other officers arresting Porter after a
brief foot chase and Catherine Porter giving the deputies permission to search her home.
 Barry Tatum Yawn

(There is no mugshot for this incident)

Date: 6/1/22

Location: 159 Tami Avenue, Florence MS

Deputies:

Summary of allegations: Barry Tatum Yawn claims Rankin Deputies tased him numerous
times, held him upside down by his legs and broke his jaw by punching him in the face during an
arrest sparked by a fight between Yawn and his son. At the urging of a fire department medic,
deputies took Yawn to a local hospital for medical treatment, where doctors treated him for a
series of head injuries which the report says occurred during the fight with Yawn’s son who
allegedly hit him in the head with a hammer.

Medical records show doctors had to remove Taser prongs from Yawn’s shoulder, but there is no
mention of Tasing in the RCSD incident report. Yawn’s medical records confirm his jaw was
broken. While Yawn claims deputies caused this, it’s difficult to say for sure due to the severity
of his fight with his son.

Evidence:
● Interview with Barry Tatum Yawn
● Interview with a witness who Yawn told about the event shortly after it occurred.
● Incident report by Sgt. Jordan Jeremiah that describes no use of force during the incident.
● Medical records indicating taser use
● Taser log indicating taser use during the timeframe by Luke Stickmen and Christian
Dedmon. There are no CAD records to determine whether the officers were present, but
Yawn alleges Dedmon was there.
 Robert Grozier

Date: 1/19/23

Location: 116 Russell St. Florence, MS

Deputies: Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward (?)

Summary of allegations: Rankin County Deputies led by officer Christian Dedmon stormed
into a home where Robert Grozier had just sold fifty dollars’ worth of methamphetamine to a
confidential informant. The officers took Grozier into a bedroom and forced a gun so far down
his throat that he vomited. They tased him in the thighs and stomach until he falsely confessed to
buying drugs from someone he claims not to know. When Dedmon found a dildo in Grozier’s
bag, he shoved it in and out of Grozier’s mouth while threatening to tase him if he spat it out.
Deputies found topless pictures of Andrea Dettore on Grozier’s phone and showed them to each
other, making lewd comments, in front of Grozier and Dettore. As they left, the deputies poured
soda over the food Dettore was preparing. Ms. Dettore and Mr. Grozier both allege Hunter
Elward was present for the raid, but did not participate in the torture of Mr. Grozier. Only
Christian Dedmon is listed on the incident report.

Evidence:
● Interview with Robert Grozier
● Interview with Andrea Dettore
● Interview with one direct witness of the event.
● Interview with a witness who heard about the event immediately after it occurred.
● Justice court records showing charge, sentence and arresting officer.
● CAD records which list Christian Dedmon as present.
● Booking sheet
● Incident report by Christian Dedmon in which he says he witnessed the buy on the
porch, where he arrested Grozier without using force. The couple said the buy occurred in
the home.
● Photos of bruises and cuts on Grozier’s thighs and buttocks from being held down and
tased.