Judge Affirms Settlement Of Lawsuit Filed By Family Of Man

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A settlement agreement between the capital city of Mississippi and the family of a man who was killed after being taken from a car by police while they were looking for a murder suspect has been enforced by a judge.

In January 2019, George Robinson, 62, passed away following his incident with three Jackson police officers. In October 2019, Robinson’s family filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming the cops had “brutally, viciously and mercilessly beat Mr. Robinson by striking and kicking him” and that Robinson was not the subject of any warrants.

On April 23, the Jackson City Council unanimously decided to pay $17,786 to resolve the legal dispute with Robinson’s family, which included his sister Bettersten Wade. According to city records, neither the city nor the three officers involved in the lawsuit acknowledged any culpability in the settlement. Robinson and the three officers were both Black.

However, in a letter published on April 24, Wade’s lawyer Dennis Sweet III claimed that the city had broken a confidentiality clause included in the deal. Wade would keep fighting the city, according to Sweet, because of the public disclosure and the way the city “appears to claim or infer some sort of perceived victory.”

Circuit Judge Faye Peterson declared in a decision on Friday that Sweet’s claims had “no merit.” According to Peterson, a binding settlement had been reached between the claimants and the city.

“Moreover, the City of Jackson cannot legally choose to keep settlements confidential, and this fact does not amount to some abstract form of fraudulent misrepresentation,” Peterson wrote.

According to Wade, Robinson was taking medication after being admitted to the hospital for a stroke a few days prior to the police interaction. Soon after being pummeled, he experienced a seizure, and two days later, cerebral hemorrhage claimed his life.

Two of the policemen had their charges of second-degree murder dropped. A Hinds County jury found former detective Anthony Fox guilty of culpable negligence manslaughter in August 2022. Fox’s conviction was reversed by the Mississippi Court of Appeals in January of this year. Prosecutors were unable to demonstrate that Fox “acted in a grossly negligent manner” or that Robinson’s death “was reasonably foreseeable under the circumstances,” according to the majority of the appeals court.

Dexter Wade, who was struck by an off-duty Jackson Police Department officer in March 2023, was run over by Wade’s mother.

The Hinds County Pauper’s Cemetery was the location of Dexter Wade’s burial. However, his mother wasn’t informed about the burial until October. On November 13, his body was dug up, and a separate autopsy was carried out. Ben Crump, a human rights attorney representing Wade’s family, said that a wallet with his credit card, health insurance card, and state identity card with his home address was discovered in his trousers pocket.

Dexter Wade was buried in a different cemetery after his family conducted a funeral for him on November 20.

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