The family of a Mississippi man who was struck and killed by a Jackson Police Department cruiser in March and buried without notice six months later is demanding justice and calling for an investigation.
The victim was identified as 37-year-old Dexter Wade and he was reported missing by his mother on Mar. 14. Despite this, she was only notified about her son's death on Aug. 24 when he was buried without his family being notified.
Mississippi Man Buried Without Notice
The Jackson Police Department confirmed that Wade was struck by a department vehicle and officials claimed that there was no ill intent in delaying the next-of-kin notification. In a statement, the City of Jackson said that while the incident was a very tragic and unfortunate accident, an investigation found no malicious intent by any Jackson police staff.
The police statement added that officers were dispatched on Mar. 5 to I-55 South following reports of an accident involving a pedestrian. While the victim died, officers were unable to identify him at the time of the incident, as per CNN.
A few days later, the coroner's office was able to identify the victim by way of medication found inside his pocket. Jackson police noted that it conducted efforts to notify Wade's family but was stymied by outdated contact information.
The statement said, "contact information for Mr Wade was outdated, and neither the coroner's office nor investigating officers were able to make contact with Mr. Wade's family." Law enforcement officials also acknowledged that investigators failed to connect a missing persons report with Wade's death.
Officials said that missing persons officers did not know that the pedestrian victim from Mar. 5 was the same individual who was reported missing more than a week later from that date. The victim's mother, Bettersten Wade Robinson, said that she had previously asked law enforcement personnel for help regarding her son.
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Missing Persons Report
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing the Wade family and he said that an investigator from the coroner's office identified the victim using fingerprints. He added that the personnel reported that identification to Jackson Police on Mar. 9, according to ABC News.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said on Oct. 26 that the victim had no ID on his person during the initial incident but did have a prescription drug bottle. After Wade's body was kept inside a morgue for months, he was later buried in a potter's field.
The victim's mother said that she repeatedly and regularly followed up with law enforcement officials for any news regarding information on what happened to her son. Lumumba noted that the failure was ultimately due to a lack of communication with the missing persons division, the coroner's office, and accident investigation.
During a news conference, Crump added that he would help arrange for the deceased's body to be exhumed from where he was buried. He said that he would then arrange for an independent autopsy before Wade is reburied in a cemetery with a headstone bearing his name.
Crump said that Wade will be given a proper funeral where his family and loved ones and his two little children and all the community can come out and give him a respectable homegoing service," said NBC News.
