3 ex-officers in Mississippi indicted in death of Black man seen on video being tased repeatedly
May 24
By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America
JACKSON, Mississippi. (AP) - A Mississippi grand jury has indicted two former police officers on murder charges and another ex-officer on a manslaughter charge in the death of a Black man who was pinned to the ground and repeatedly tased during an arrest last December.
Officials in Jackson, Mississippi's capital, released body camera footage Wednesday that showed three officers - Avery Willis, Kenya McCarty and James Land - struggling to handcuff Keith Murriel as he was stunned numerous times over a 10-minute span.
Authorities said the officers had tackled Murriel while arresting him for allegedly trespassing at a hotel shortly before midnight on Dec. 31, 2022.
McCarty and Willis have been charged with second-degree murder, and Land with manslaughter, court records showed. All three were placed on administrative leave after the incident and McCarty was fired in February, then Willis and Land in April.
McCarty and Willis are Black, and Land is white, according to Melissa Faith Payne, a city spokesperson.
Payne said she did not know whether any of the officers had attorneys as of Wednesday who could comment for them.
The video shows McCarty kneeling with her knee on Murriel's back before Murriel flips around, and the three officers attempt to lock his hands behind his back. The 41-year-old man is seen pleading with officers to stop shocking him with stun guns.
After handcuffing Murriel, officers then laid the man horizontally on the back seat of a patrol vehicle. He died after being taken into custody.
Willis' body camera footage showed him talking to another officer after the encounter.
"I hope (he) is asleep. Because if he's asleep, it'll be a good ride," Willis
said, using a racial slur to refer to Murriel.
By The Associated Press, Copyright 2023