Judge upholds settlement of lawsuit filed by family of man who died after police removed him from car

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A judge has ordered a settlement between Mississippi’s capital and the family of a man who died after police officers pulled him from a car while searching a murder suspect.

George Robinson, 62, died in January 2019, days after the encounter with three Jackson police officers. His relatives sued the city in October 2019, claiming that Robinson had no warrant for his arrest and alleging that the officers “brutally, viciously and mercilessly beat Mr. Robinson by punching him and giving him kicks.”

On April 23, the Jackson City Council unanimously approved paying $17,786 to settle the lawsuit with Robinson’s relatives, including his sister Bettersten Wade. City documents indicate the settlement is not an admission of liability by the city or the three officers named in the suit. Robinson was black, as were the three officers.

But Wade’s attorney, Dennis Sweet III, released a letter April 24 claiming the city violated a confidentiality agreement that was part of the settlement. Sweet said that because of the public disclosure and because the city “seems to be claiming or inferring some sort of perceived victory,” Wade would continue to sue the city.

In a ruling issued Friday, Circuit Judge Faye Peterson wrote that she found “no merit” in the arguments Sweet made. Peterson wrote that the plaintiffs and the city reached a legally binding settlement.

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

Robinson had been hospitalized with a stroke days before the police encounter and was taking medication, Wade said. He suffered a seizure a few hours after being beaten and died two days later of a brain hemorrhage.

Second-degree murder charges against two of the officers were dropped in the case. In August 2022, a Hinds County jury found former detective Anthony Fox guilty of negligent manslaughter. In January of this year, the Mississippi Court of Appeals overturned Fox’s conviction. The appeals court majority wrote that prosecutors failed to prove that Fox “acted in a grossly negligent manner” or that Robinson’s death “was reasonably foreseeable under the circumstances.”

Wade is the mother of Dexter Wade, who was run over by an off-duty Jackson Police Department officer in March 2023.

Dexter Wade was buried in the Hinds County Poor People’s Cemetery. But it was not until October that his mother was informed of the burial. His body was exhumed on November 13 and an independent autopsy was carried out. A wallet found in his jeans pocket contained his identification card with his home address, his credit card and a health insurance card, said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Wade’s family.

On November 20, Dexter Wade’s family held a funeral for him and he was buried in another cemetery.