‘THE GOON SQUAD’

6 Ex-Cops Plead Guilty in ‘Violent’ Torture of 2 Black Men in Mississippi

The officers, all white, “inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims” over the course of roughly 90 minutes, authorities said.

Six white former law enforcement officers in Mississippi pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal civil rights charges in the “unspeakable” torture and sexual assault of two Black men, one of whom was shot in the mouth. The officers are Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Christian Dedmon, Daniel Opdyke and Joshua Hartfield, several of whom referred to themselves as “‘The Goon Squad’ because of their willingness to use excessive force and not to report it,” according to federal charging documents. The group are accused of raiding a home in Braxton without a warrant on Jan. 24, handcuffing the two Black men they found inside. Over the course of roughly 90 minutes, the officers hurled racial slurs as they beat the men and shocked them with Tasers, according to a federal complaint in the case. One of the men was shot during what federal prosecutors described as a “mock execution,” while the other had a sex toy forced into his mouth, the complaint states. “The defendants in this case tortured and inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims... and shamefully betrayed the oath they swore as law enforcement officers,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.