Wade Robertson, 28, and Bryce Gilbert, 27, two former Mississippi police officers, were indicted this week over the brutal beating of James Barnett in 2018. Robertson also received another charge for the fatal shooting of Dominique Henry in 2019.
According to The Laurel Leader-Call, Gilbert and Robertson were charged with aggravated assault in the 2018 case. Robertson was also charged with manslaughter in the 2019 case.
According to the report, on May 16, 2018, Barnett turned around after noticing a police checkpoint and was then chased by police for 20 miles.
After the officers caught up to him, he says that he was held face down on the ground and was repeatedly kicked by both officers in the face with steel-toed boots. Barnett says the two officers also harassed him while he was being treated at the hospital.
Both officers were fired by the Laurel Police Department the day after the beating.
Barnett filed a civil rights complaint against Robertson and Gilbert, along with state and local officials, claiming the officers had “brutally assaulted and publicly tortured” him on the side of the road.
That case was dismissed November 15, 2019, after he reached a settlement with the officers.
It wasn’t but five days after the case was dismissed that Robertson fatally shot Henry as she was allegedly stealing his wife’s car outside their home near Bay Springs.
Robertson claims the shooting was in self-defense, but Henry’s family disagrees.
As reported, Henry was allegedly banging on Robertson’s door. When he finally came out to check out what was going on, Henry had allegedly gotten into his wife’s car and started driving away.
Robertson then shot at the car and killed Henry. According to the former cop, he shot in self-defense and claimed that Henry attempted to run him over.
The indictment alleges the former officer was not acting in self-defense when he fired into the car and killed Henry.
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