Lexington Police say Javarius Russell, visiting the central Mississippi town over the New Year’s holiday in 2021, hit a police car with his all-terrain vehicle and fled the scene – but Russell says it wasn't him, and that the police department has yet to present any evidence proving it was.
Joshua Tom, Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, is representing Russell in his suit. He says the arrest began when Russell was placed into custody and in the back of former police chief Sam Dobbins' car to wait for the officer whose car was allegedly struck by the ATV.
“Some minutes later, another Lexington police officer came up and saw Mr. Russell in the back of Dobbins car, and Dobbins said something to the extent of, 'Yeah, I got the guy who hit the police car.' And the other officer goes, 'No, that's not him. You got the wrong guy.'
“Nonetheless, Chief Dobbins proceeded to charge and jail Mr. Russell with various charges and held him for several days. Clearly detaining and arresting somebody on charges that you know to be false is a violation of Mr. Russell's rights,” said Tom.
Despite that conversation between Dobbins and the other officer, Russell was booked and later transferred to the Hinds County Detention Center, where Dobbins allegedly tried to extract monetary payment for repairs and to secure Russell's release.
Tom says they’re seeking individual damage claims from all officers who were involved in Russell’s arrest – former chief Dobbins, current chief Charles Henderson, former officer Corderius Epps and current officer Brad Stanley – in addition to the city of Lexington.
Last July, only a year into his term, a recording surfaced of Dobbins bragging to a colleague about the number of people he’d killed in the line of duty while using racial epithets when referring to the victims.
The town’s board of aldermen fired him shortly after – but now a year on and with new chief Charles Henderson appointed, Black residents say a pervasive fear of traveling through Lexington remains.
Tom and the ACLU says the arrest is in violation of Title six of the Civil Rights Act, as well as constituting a violation of Russell's 4th and 14th amendment rights.
“We also allege that Lexington Police Department and the city of Lexington have a policy and practice of various unconstitutional activities, and so we're suing the city over and the police department over those illegal policies and practices,” said Tom.
A separate case in federal court alleges both the police department and city hall have targeted a culture of abuse and harassment toward Black residents since Dobbins’ appointment as police chief in 2021. With a court date for that case scheduled for next June, Tom says a ruling in whichever case comes first could impact upon a ruling in the other.