Kadarius Smith.Photo:Courtesy of Ben Crump Law
Courtesy of Ben Crump Law
Kadarius Smith, 17, was walking home with friends when a Mississippi police cruiser sped up behind him and “began chasing him,” according to a press release from civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing the teenager’s family.
Running him over from behind in the early morning hours of March 21, the cruiser left tire marks across his back, according to Kadarius’s mother who is cited in the release. The 17-year-old later died of his injuries.
“This tragedy should have never happened and the officers involved must be held accountable,” Crump said in the statement. “It is unconscionable that an officer would fatally run over a teenager who was running away from them.”
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty
Crump called for the immediate termination of the Leland police officer driving the cruiser — who has not been publicly identified — and publicly asked that the “unedited video footage” of the incident be released to the teenager’s family.
Kadarius Smith.Courtesy of Ben Crump Law
“But the allegation that he was simply walking home with friends — that’s just not true,” Bogen says, adding: “All I can say is that the police department was responding to a call that night.”
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Crump has previously represented the families ofTrayvon Martin,Michael Brownand Martin Lee Anderson — all Black teenagers who died in high-profile, officer-involved incidents across the country.
In apost on X (formerly Twitter), Crump – who has additionally represented the families ofGeorge FloydandBreonna Taylor– wrote that Kadarius’s family had retained him “to hopefully gain answers & accountability for this young man’s death!”
Leland Police Department.Google Maps
Google Maps
Kadarius’s death – which occurred near Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Huddleston Street in Leland, Miss., less than a two-hour drive from the state’s capital – follows a recent string of high-profile police brutality cases in Mississippi.
The Department of Justice is alsonow investigatingMississippi’s Lexington Police Department in order to, per an email describing the line of inquiry, “assess the use of force; discriminatory policing; stops, searches, and arrests; and potential violations of the right to engage in protected speech and conduct.”
source: people.com
