2015/07/22 – 

Cries of protest rang through the usually quiet streets of the small Mississippi community of Stonewall this month, as organizers marched on the town’s police station, demanding the removal of who residents believe to be “killer cops.”

Angry voices raised in unison alternated between chants of “Hey, Hey, Hey Ho, these killing cops have got to go” and “No peace. No justice,” as they marched from a local ballpark to the town’s police/fire station.

The crowd gathered July 19 in support of friends and family of 39-year-old Jonathan Sanders, killed by part-time police officer Kevin Herrington, after the cop held him in a 30-minute choke-hold, according to witnesses.

“He was a good man.  He never hurt nobody,” one resident shouted in support from her front yard as the members of the Sanders family and about 400 determined and frustrated people marched past her home.

The incident happened between 10:30 and 11 p.m. on July 8, as Sanders was riding his horse-drawn buggy down a main road.  Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the attorney representing Sanders’ family, says witnesses report Herrington rode up behind Sanders’ buggy and turned on his lights, startling the horse and throwing Sanders from the buggy.  Sanders ran to reclaim and settle the horse, when Herrington allegedly grabbed Sanders around his neck and would not release him, despite claims from Sanders that he could not breathe.

One of the three witnesses, unnamed by Lumumba, but identified by local Sheriff Todd Kemp as Rachel Williams, is a jail guard from the neighboring county of Lauderdale. Williams says she actually ran up to the struggling men near the driveway and offered assistance.  Williams claims she heard Sanders’ plea for breath, but Herrington refused to release him.

Herrington’s attorney, Bill Ready, Jr., claimed Sanders “fought back and actually grabbed the officer’s gun,” while Williams insists the gun remained firmly in its holster.  Williams goes on to claim that Herrington instructed his wife, Kasey Herrington — who was riding with him in his patrol vehicle while he was on duty — to remove his gun from the holster and put it in the car.

“My witness said his wife didn’t even know how to remove the weapon from her husband’s holster, so my witness, who happens to work in law enforcement, had to tell her how to take it out,” Lumumba said.  “Herrington claims they were fighting over his gun and had it out of his holster.  So you’re trying to tell me that this policeman manages to reclaim his gun from a combatant, and then — instead of using it to subdue his opponent — he just puts it back in his holster?  And then he has second thoughts and tells his wife to come get it?”

Sanders, known in the close-knit community as “Mop-Top,” struggled with addiction.  He had a 2003 cocaine-related conviction and an April arrest for possession. Supporters at the rally lambasted the media for demonizing an obvious addict in an attempt to save a killer cop’s reputation.

“We had a meeting last Tuesday.  I asked the district attorney why they stopped Mop-Top,” Clarke County NAACP President Lawrence Kirksey announced to the crowd in the minutes leading up to Saturday’s march.  “They couldn’t tell us why he went after Mop-Top.  Then, all of a sudden, his history came out in the newspaper.  They had to plant the story in the minds of the individuals that now he’s just another black man with drugs.  But why would he be riding down the road doing a drug deal with a horse?”

Kirksey suggested outraged supporters should take their money outside of the municipality and boycott local businesses until businesses pressure the police department for a resolution.

Minister Abram Muhammad, state representative of the Nation of Islam, warned the crowd that blacks “have to stop taking the blows.”

“I am not coming here to tell you to grab hands and pray for your enemy.  That’s not nature.  That ain’t even natural law,” Muhammad said.  “… As long as all we do is come together, say some chants, say a few words and then go home, another black life will be lost, and we owe our beautiful babies more than that.”

Source: NAACP Writers