After more than 7 months, specifically 172 days, Bettersten did not hear one update about the whereabouts of her son. As any loving mother would be, she figured that she would never learn about her son’s fate. She would call the Jackson Police Department often asking for updates, but the lead investigator would tell her there were no leads, according to NBC News.

This would be acceptable if the Jackson Police Department truly did not know where her son was. But the problem is that they did. In fact, they’ve known since the night Dexter went “missing.”

NBC News reported, through the help of a coroner’s investigator, court records, public documents, and interviews with Dexter’s family, it’s been discovered on the night Dexter left his mom, he was struck by an off-duty Jackson police officer driving an SUV on the interstate.

Despite knowing Dexter’s name, and who his next of kin was, police failed to contact Bettersten, and let his body go unclaimed in the county morgue for months. Since his body went unclaimed, the county buried Dexter’s remains at a penal farm, with other unclaimed bodies, without telling his mother.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The corporal, who alerted police to the collision, was not injured. He was not suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and was not given field sobriety tests.

    Why does this make me think the corporal that hit the victim was drunk driving?

    • SARGEx117@lemmy.world
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      Unprompted denial.

      “by the way, I didn’t shit myself at a party while wearing white pants so if anyone tells you that it’s a lie” -Someone who definitely shat themselves at a party in white pants

    • ZMonster@lemmy.world
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      Where’s the confusion? They protested the notion of drunk driving several times – many more than necessary. Protesting is like eating pasta. You can’t do too much of it.

  • eric@lemmy.world
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    I don’t believe for a second this was accidental. If it were, there would be no reason to hide it.

    • HonkyTonkWoman@lemm.ee
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      Seriously, the last line of the article, which is buried beneath the collage of ads, stated that the mom actually had to pay $250 to get her rights to her own son’s body back…

      Holy fuck, indeed.

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    I assumed a mental health crisis gone won’t when reading the headline. Nope. An off-duty officer hit him with his cruise with no repercussions. Even worse, they are making her pay to get the body back.

  • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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    Conveniently they forgot, so nobody could investigate his murder at the hands of an off duty cop who is likely in the wind now

  • Lexam@lemmy.ca
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    You can’t blame the police, because they will target you and your family.

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    Is it really not possible to do anything about this? Isn’t the police government-funded, doesn’t the president/ruling party have any say in how it operates?

    Genuinely asking, I’m not American so I routinely get confused by how the government there works.

    • quicksand@lemm.ee
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      The police department is run by the local government. Generally the city or county, but some police officers are employees of the state. I’m not sure if there’s anything the elected city officials could do anyways, but in Jackson, Mississippi I can guarantee they wouldn’t do anything either way for a black man.

  • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/biden-promise-tracker/promise/1527/expand-justice-department-power-address-police-mis/

    “Expand and use the power of the U.S. Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices. … Under the Biden Administration, the Justice Department will again use its authority to root out unconstitutional or unlawful policing.”

    Promise Kept