The two civil rights figures, along with family members, say the circumstances of his death and the manner in which relatives were notified are questionable, and draw suspicions as to whether there's a cover-up.
The botched exhumation only furthers those concerns, they say.
“I wanted to come for two reasons: I wanted to give words of comfort to the family, but I wanted to give words of discomfort to the state of Mississippi,” said Sharpton, who eulogized Wade at the request of his family.
“And I hope when I finish saying what I say that the family can find comfort; but that the city and the police department and the state of Mississippi can find some discomfort. What happened to Dexter is a disgrace. It’s a national outrage and should be treated as such.”
Officials say Dexter Wade was attempting to cross Interstate 55 by foot in early March and that the collision was an accident. The officer involved has not yet been named by Jackson police or city officials.
When his mother, Bettersten Wade Robinson, hadn’t heard him for more than a week, she reported him missing.
At the time, Dexter Wade was in the county morgue and identified by a prescription pill bottle found in his pocket. But the Hinds County Coroner says she had trouble contacting his mother by phone, and subsequently passed the responsibility off to the police as is custom.
Wade says she received neither that phone call nor an in-person visit to notify her of her son’s death. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said it was a matter of “miscommunication” in the police department and that there was no malicious intent.
But an independent autopsy conducted after last week’s exhumation found Wade was buried in his clothing, and with his wallet and several identification cards in a pocket.
Sharpton highlighted that as a source of his and many others' suspicion as to what really happened to Dexter Wade, and used his eulogy as an opportunity to speak directly to the off-duty officer involved in the collision.
“You didn’t go back on duty and do your job of identifying something that you did, or you decided it was a hit and run,” said Sharpton. “And you could not have covered this up by yourself. You think I got here today, I’ll be here until we see the prosecution of everybody involved in the death of Dexter Wade.”
For a period of nearly six months before Jackson officials notified Bettersten Wade Robinson her son had been killed and seemingly buried with haste, she had in many ways been his sole advocate.
She described searching for him by foot in abandoned houses and neighborhoods surrounding the family home, asking members of Facebook groups and even making several calls to Jackson Police.
“I started by myself on this path to find Dexter. I begged Dexter to come home. Dexter, you made it home,” she said to the crowd. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t there, but you told mama, ‘Don’t stop, because I’m out here,’ and I really found him for his two girls. I wanted them to know what happened to their dad.”
But what began as a mother’s exhaustive search for answers into her son’s disappearance has grown into demands by two prominent civil rights figures and Congressman Bennie Thompson for federal scrutiny into his death and the ensuing process from beginning to end.
Looking over her son’s casket, Bettersten said she was thankful to see so many show up, and asked them to remember that the fight to get justice for her son isn't over.
“Just keep fighting with me, because it’s not over yet. We’re just letting Dexter go home and walk around heaven with his father on the golden streets. That’s what he always said: ‘I’m going home to my father, and I’m going to walk the golden streets with my father.’ And now, Dexter, you are home.”
