A “goon squad” of racist American police officers have been sentenced to decades behind bars.
Six ex-coppers admitted raiding a Mississippi home without a warrant and assaulting two black men.
The officers carried out a mock execution during a 90-minute torture session of Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker men during the incident.
The so-called “goon squad”, all white, used racial slurs as they assaulted their victims with a stun gun and a sex toy.
A stock image of two US police officers
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Attorney General Merrick Garland labelled the incident as a “heinous attack” on those they had sworn to protect.
Lead assailant Christian Dedmon, 29, was imprisoned for 40 years.
He wept during the proceedings, kept his eyes averted from the victims and said he would never forgive himself.
Daniel Opdyke, 28, and Jeffrey Middleton, 46, were both handed 17 and a half year sentences.
Hunter Elward, 31, was sentenced to nearly 20 years and the final two members Brett McAlpin, 53, and Joshua Hartfield, 32, will be locked up for more than 27 years and more than 10 years respectively.
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The six officers were suspended following the incident
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Opdyke cried as he told the victims he had reflected on “the monster I became that night”.
McAlpin had texted the group asking if they were “available for a mission” in January 2023.
The message was sent after a white neighbour reported that two men were staying at a white woman’s home in Braxton, Mississippi.
Officers handcuffed the two men after entering the property, before pouring milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces.
Dedmon and Opdyke assaulted them with a sex toy, with the victims being forced to shower together in an attempt to conceal the mess.
The officers were sentenced to decades behind bars
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Elward led a mock execution, resulting in Jenkins' jaw being broken when the gun placed in his mouth went off.
The so-called “goon squad” planted drugs and a gun in the home as they sought to frame the pair on false charges.
They were all fired as sheriff’s deputies after pleading guilty last summer.
However, the six ex-officers initially attempted to stick to their cover story.
Further sentences for state charges will likely accompany federal civil rights offences.
The “goon squad” has been connected to other violent incidents involving black men and a serious assault involving a white man in December 2022.