The lawsuit comes after Lexington's police chief was fired after a leaked audio recording surfaced in which he was heard allegedly using racist slurs.
In the recording, first reported by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Sam Dobbins, who is white, also allegedly bragged about killing 13 people in the line of duty and used the n-word repeatedly, including to describe someone he says he shot 119 times.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, says there is a pattern and culture of racism at the police department that requires further investigation and accountability. That has continued under Charles Henderson, who was appointed interim chief after Dobbins was fired, according to the lawsuit.
It is asking the court to declare that the police department's"policy, practice, and/or custom of targeting, threatening, coercing, assaulting, and harassing these Plaintiffs and other Black Lexington citizens" violates the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. It also asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order against Lexington's police department.
"Despite numerous citizen complaints, the constitutional violations have only worsened," the lawsuit states.
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