'Low-down dirty shame': Officials exhume Mississippi man killed by police SUV before family arrives

Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY
Updated ·4 min read
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The body of a Mississippi man who was buried in an unmarked grave after an off-duty officer struck him with a police SUV was exhumed Monday without family in attendance and months after officials failed to notify them of his death.

An off-duty officer driving a Jackson Police Department car hit Dexter Wade, 37, in March. His mother, Bettersten Wade filed a missing person’s report with Jackson police days later.

It wasn't until late August when she learned her son had been struck by a police vehicle as he crossed a highway on the day she last saw him. Wade was buried in an unmarked grave at a pauper’s cemetery before the family was notified of his death, according to a report by NBC News last month that made national headlines.

Police had known Dexter’s name, and hers, but failed to contact her, instead letting his body go unclaimed for months in the county morgue, NBC reported.

On Monday, authorities exhumed Wade's body following calls for an independent autopsy and funeral. But his family said officials failed to honor the agreed-upon time approved by a county attorney for exhuming the body.

“Now, I ask, can I exhume my child and try to get some peace and try to get a state of mind,” Bettersten said. “Now y’all take that from me. I couldn’t even see him come out of the ground.”

Civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump told USA TODAY Wade's mother was notified last week by the attorney for the Hinds County Board the exhumation would be at 11:30 a.m. Monday. The family, along with their attorneys, members of the media and community advocates had planned to attend, but Crump said Wade’s body was exhumed at 8 a.m., hours before the scheduled time and without notice.

“There is no excuse for the way this case has been handled. Every time Ms. Wade takes a step toward getting answers as to what happened to her son, Jackson officials bring her two steps back,” Crump said.

Surrounded by family members and holding hands with civil rights attorney Ben Crump, center right, Bettersten Wade, center, mother of Dexter Wade, a 37-year-old man who died after being hit by a Jackson, Miss., police SUV driven by an off-duty officer, watches her son's body transferred to a mortuary transport, after being exhumed from a pauper's cemetery near the Hinds County Penal Farm in Raymond, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. Crump said Monday he is asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate why authorities waited several months to notify the family of his death. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Family calls for federal probe

City officials have said the circumstances around and after his death was an accident, and there was no malicious intent. But Crump, who took on cases regarding the killings of Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, reiterated calls on Monday for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Wade’s death and the aftermath.

“It’s a low-down dirty shame what happened today,” Crump said. “What happened to Dexter Wade in March and what happened to Dexter Wade here today reeks to the high heavens.”

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-MS, joined Wade’s family in pleas for a Justice Department probe.

“The extensive local and national media coverage of this tragedy has prompted numerous calls to my office from concerned citizens in Jackson who are also searching for answers. The system owes Mr. Wade’s family an explanation for the callous manner in which his untimely death was mishandled,” Thompson said in a statement.

What happened to Dexter Wade?

On March 5, an off-duty officer driving a Jackson Police Department SUV struck and killed Wade while he was crossing Interstate 55. Wade's mother soon filed a missing person's report with Jackson police but wasn’t told what happened until months after, NBC reported.

Bettersten Wade, mother of Dexter Wade, a 37-year-old man who died after being hit by a Jackson, Miss., police SUV driven by an off-duty officer, cries while watching her son's body transferred to a mortuary transport, after being exhumed from a pauper's cemetery near the Hinds County Penal Farm in Raymond, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Monday he is asking for a federal investigation as to why authorities waited several months to notify the family of Wade's death. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba previously said Dexter Wade did not have his identification card on him when he was struck and the Jackson Police Department was unable to identify him. He noted a coroner identified Wade through fingerprints and from a bottle of prescription medication he had on him. Crump said the coroner contacted a medical clinic to get information about Dexter Wade’s next of kin but was unable to get in touch with Bettersten Wade.

Crump showed a report that said between March and July the coroner's office called Jackson police seven times to see if they made contact with the next of kin, to which the police department responded no.

Lumumba added that Bettersten was not contacted because "there was a lack of communication with the missing person's division, the coroner's office, and accident investigation," and called it "an unfortunate and tragic incident."

Wade’s funeral will be held on Nov. 20.

Dexter Wade case: Mississippi police car hit man, buried without notice

Contributing: Charlie Drape, USA TODAY Network; Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Body of Dexter Wade exhumed without family present