The lawyer for the family of Dexter Wade, whose body was dumped in a pauper’s grave after he was hit and killed by a police car, renewed his demand the U.S. Justice Department get involved in the case.
Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing the family, posted the demand on social media following the revelation that Wade had identification with his home address on him at the time of his death.
“How much longer does Ms. Bettersten Wade Robinson have to wait before Jackson (MS) police and officials provide ANSWERS?! ” Crump wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “They must be accountable for the circumstances surrounding #DexterWade’s death at the hands of police! We need the U.S. Dept. of Justice to investigate!”
Dexter Wade, 37, was last seen on March 5. An off-duty Jackson police corporal driving an SUV hit and killed Wade that day as he crossed a six-lane highway, Interstate 55, according to NBC News.
The Hinds County coroner’s office told NBC that it had confirmed Wade’s identity on March 8 and left a phone message with his mother, who said she doesn’t recall receiving it. The coroner’s office also said it passed the information to the Jackson Police Department.
But Bettersten Wade, who spent months calling cops for information and searching for her son in vain, didn’t receive notification from authorities that her son was dead and in a pauper’s grave until Aug. 24.
Jackson police have not commented on the case. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba blamed “a lack of communication” for the family’s months-long delay in finding out what happened to Wade.
On Thursday, an independent pathologist said that during an examination of Wade’s exhumed body, he found a wallet with credit and insurance cards as well as a state identification card with his address, according to information Crump released on X.
Wade lived with his mother.
The pathologist, Dr. Frank Peretti, said Wade suffered blunt-force trauma to his ribs, leg, and pelvis. Wade had been run over by the police car, and his left leg was amputated.
The wallet containing identification raises more questions about what the authorities knew and why, if they had Wade’s address, reaching his family was so difficult.
“The tragic news we received from the independent pathologist today was heartbreaking for everyone who knew and cared for Dexter Wade, especially his mother,” Crump said in a statement he posted on X. “The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family. There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an identified man’s death.”
Officials ruled the death an accident, and NBC reported that the officer involved wasn’t cited.
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