A woman who sued Mississippi’s capital over her brother’s death has decided not to settle the case after authorities disclosed the amount the city will pay the family, her attorney announced Wednesday.
George Robinson, 62, died in January 2019, days after three Jackson police officers pulled him from his car while searching for a murder suspect.
The Jackson City Council on Tuesday approved a $17,786 payment to settle a lawsuit filed in state court in October 2019 by Robinson’s relatives, WLBT-TV reported. City documents say the settlement is not an admission of liability by the city or the three employees named in the lawsuit. Robinson was black, as were the three officers.
A former Mississippi police officer who admitted torturing two black men is sentenced in state court.
The payments to Robinson’s relatives, including her sister Bettersten Wade, were approved unanimously. Wade’s attorney, Dennis Sweet III, released a letter Wednesday accusing the city of Jackson of violating a non-disclosure agreement that was part of the settlement. Sweet said Wade will continue to sue the city because this information has been made public and because the city “appears to be claiming or assuming what appears to be some sort of victory.” .
Mr Sweet said Mr Robinson’s family had reached another “substantive settlement” with the ambulance company.
Councilman Kenneth Stokes voted in favor but said he thought the city’s settlement was too small.
Bettersten Wade speaks to attendees at his son Dexter Wade’s funeral on Monday, November 20, 2023 in Jackson, Mississippi. Pastor Al Sharpton (right), who delivered the eulogy, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump (background) look on. and one of her son’s daughters, Jesselyn Thomas. Bettersten Wade sued the city of Jackson over his brother’s death, but decided not to settle after city officials released the amount the city would pay survivors, alleging it violated a non-disclosure agreement. did. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
“What I’m saying is, this just sends the wrong message about human life, especially black life,” Stokes said. “I think a step in the right direction would have been to pay families a little more money.”
The suit alleges that the three officers “brutally, viciously, and relentlessly beat Mr. Robinson, including punching and kicking him.”
“Mr. Robinson had not committed any crime, was not the subject of any warrant, and was not a threat to himself or anyone in the area,” the complaint said.
Wade said Robinson had been hospitalized for a stroke and was on medication several days before the encounter with police. He suffered a seizure hours after being hit and died two days later from bleeding from the brain.
Second-degree murder charges against the two officers were dropped in this case. In August 2022, a Hinds County jury convicted former detective Anthony Fox of manslaughter, but in January of this year, the Mississippi Court of Appeals overturned Fox’s conviction. The appeals court majority said prosecutors had failed to prove that Foxx “committed gross negligence” or that Robinson’s death was “reasonably foreseeable under the circumstances.”
Wade is the mother of Dexter Wade, who was struck by an off-duty Jackson Police Department officer in March 2023.
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Dexter Wade was buried in the Hinds County Beggar Cemetery. However, it was only in October that his mother was informed of the burial.
His body was exhumed on November 13, and an independent autopsy was performed. Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing Wade’s family, said the wallet found in Wade’s jeans pocket contained a state ID with his home address, credit cards and health insurance card. That’s what it means.
On November 20, Dexter Wade’s family held a funeral service for him, and he was buried in a separate cemetery.
