THE attorney fighting for a distraught mom whose son was allegedly killed by cops and then buried in an open grave without her knowing is confident she’ll win his battle for justice.
Prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump told The U.S Sun he will do everything in his power to ease the hell suffered by Bettersten Wade after her son Dexter, 37, went missing on March 5 last year in Jackson, Mississippi.
She filed a missing persons report a week later – but didn’t find out the brutality of the situation for another seven months.
FAMILY NIGHTMARE
Bettersten, whose brother George was killed while in police custody in 2019 and is already in a lengthy legal fight with the state, only realized what happened when a private investigator discovered Dexter’s body been dumped with hundreds of other, unclaimed bodies behind a Hinds County jail.
“Dexter had ID in his pocket and they just threw him in a bag,” an exasperated Crump told The U.S Sun.
An off-duty officer allegedly hit Dexter while driving a Jackson police SUV.
There was a Hinds County coroner on the scene, according to NBC News, who claimed there was no identification with the body.
CLAIMS DOUBTED
Some medication with his name on it was found, yet his family was still unaware.
“You don’t need to be Columbo to find out who he was,” said Crump incredulously.
An independent autopsy conducted by pathologist Dr. Frank Peretti revealed a number of alarming details.
Dexter’s body was not embalmed, his body was in an advanced state of decomposition and displayed multiple blunt-force injuries to the skull, ribs, and pelvis.
His left leg was amputated, his body was completely run over by the police vehicle, while there was a wallet in the front pocket of his jeans containing his state identification card with his home address, his credit card, and a health insurance card.
Local authorities claimed calls were made to Dexter’s mother, something she and Crump deny.
The Hinds County coroner’s office said it called a number listed for Bettersten Wade but did not hear back.
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Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba admitted last October that “there was a lack of communication with the missing persons division, the coroner’s office, and [the police department’s] accident investigation,” per NPR.
“They said they went round to the mom’s house twice – we don’t know that to be true but is that the only thing they tried?” continued Crump. “They blocked the state of putting a picture out of him.”
FEASTING ON FLESH
The Jackson Police Department admitted that a cop car hit Wade, but refuted accusations about the awful delay in informing his shattered family.
“While this is a very tragic and unfortunate accident, our investigation found no malicious intent by any Jackson police staff,” the city of Jackson said in a statement to CNN.
Crump, dubbed Black America’s attorney general, laid bare the pure horrors of his trip to the jail site where Dexter’s body was exhumed, which allowed his family to give him a proper funeral.
He says the sights of buzzards swarming the area and pecking at the ground meant only one thing.
“When I saw those bird, I knew the people buried weren’t even in boxes,” he said with disdain. “It’s deplorable.”
Civil right attorney Ben Crump on Dexter Wade’s autopsy report
The following statement was issued by civil rights attorney Ben Crump about Dexter Wade’s autopsy report:
The tragic news we received from the independent pathologist today was heartbreaking for everyone who knew and cared for Dexter Wade, especially his mother.
The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family.
There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an identified man’s death.
Dexter, a young Black man, was buried with no more dignity and respect than an animal, which no human being deserves.
This case has shown us time and time again that the local officials cannot be trusted in this matter and there are clear conflicts of interest.
Now, louder than ever, we renew our calls to the Department of Justice to investigate all of the local entities involved in Dexter’s death and what his mother suspects is a coverup.
Dexter’s grave was marked number 672.
We can only pray that there aren’t hundreds of other families out there unknowingly suffering this same fate.
Crump says one of his associates maintains the sickening dumping of unclaimed bodies is “intentional to keep the crime rate down.”
He filed a lawsuit against the state three months ago and hopes to have an answer within the next few weeks, with the possibility of taking criminal action.
“We are going to pursue it even beyond what the federal government is talking about because he was allegedly crossing the street,” Crump said.
COMPENSATION WAR
He wants Wade and his two young daughters to be heavily compensated for their loss but knows the battle for justice and equality is never-ending.
“I think when you’re black in America and you care about the police there is and effort to justify it like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Crump continued.
“They always try to justify being able to kill us and say there’s nothing to see here, move along.”
While the Wade case is ongoing, Crump is also pushing for the Department of Justice to help assist with the families whose loved ones were thrown into the ground at the Hinds County jail.
Families want federal investigations into the burials, with Crump fearing hundreds of people have been dumped there without warning.
“We know, based on the records from the coroner’s office, that, since 2016, in the last eight years, we can identify 215 individuals that were buried behind that jail, and their families have not been notified,” Crump told PBS earlier this year.
The U.S. Sun contacted the Jackson Police Department for comment but did not immediately hear back.