BREAKING NEWS - RANKIN COUNTY GOON SQUAD SETTLEMENT

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Two men who were abused by five former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies back in early 2023 have settled their civil suit against Rankin County. On April 30, U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan issued an order dismissing the suit brought by Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, saying that the two had reached a settlement with Rankin County and the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department. Jason Dare, an attorney for the department, provided details about the $2.5 million settlement at a press conference Thursday afternoon. “The county will pay $500,000 for that resolution. The county’s insurance will pay its policy limits of $2 million for [the] resolution of that case,” he said. Dare told reporters outside the Rankin County Detention Center that the $500,000 would come out of the sheriff’s department’s budget. “The citizens of Rankin County are not going to be impacted by the settlement of this case,” he said. In a follow-up interview with WLBT, Dare said services will not be impacted, and that the $500,000 will likely come from different line items in the sheriff’s $24.2 million budget. He said the payment will likely be made in the next 14 to 30 days and will be in one lump sum. The Rankin County Board of Supervisors will likely have to approve a resolution authorizing the payment. It was not known when that resolution would be presented. Dare went on to say that the settlement is not an admission of guilt on the county’s or the sheriff’s department’s part. However, he did speak to the impact that the Goon Squad’s actions had on the victims, the sheriff’s department, and the county itself. “A lot of people were impacted by what happened in Braxton, Mississippi, on January 24, 2023, most notably, Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Parker, and their families, but also the Rankin County community, and the fine, upstanding law enforcement officers who are with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, who have weathered the storm that has ensued since that day,” he said. “To everybody, we hope this resolution brings some sense of finality... and peace.” Parker and Jenkins filed the suit in June 2023, months after they were abused at the hands of five former Rankin deputies and one former Richland Police officer on the night of January 24, 2023. The two were seeking $400 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, and other costs. Those former officers have since been sentenced on state and federal charges.