Stokes' comments anger officials, law enforcement

Jackson Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes held a press conference Sunday about his recent comments suggesting that residents of his ward should use rocks, bricks and bottles to show police from other jurisdictions how they feel about police pursuits into Jackson.

The press conference came after members of the Jackson City Council denounced his comments, Mayor Tony Yarber distanced himself, law enforcement agencies reacted and Gov. Phil Bryant said he would ask Attorney General Jim Hood about legal measures related to inciting violence.

Stokes started the press conference by framing the controversy as “a race issue” and ended it by calling Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey a “dumb bastard.”

“Race. Race is a factor, and the blatant disregard for the public safety of innocent children and elderly citizens in unlawful chases by outside jurisdictions, in the inner city of Jackson neighborhoods,” Stokes said.

Kenneth Stokes holds press conference on police remarks

Bailey, when asked about Stokes’ comments, said, “the citizens of Rankin County elected me to keep them safe and that’s what I intend to do.

“They started this, we didn’t. They came over here and committed a crime,” Bailey said of suspects chased by law enforcement into Jackson’s city limits. “In my opinion, Kenneth Stokes represents everything that’s wrong with Jackson and why it’s going downhill. His mentality — he said this is racism? Yeah, it is racism, against every officer, every deputy, anybody else that bleeds blue.”

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey responds to comments from Jackson councilman

Stokes insisted he wasn’t trying to encourage people to take action but wouldn’t elaborate when asked what residents should do with the rocks, bricks and bottles he had encouraged them to pick up.

Bailey had his own take. “I challenge him (Stokes) to cross this river, and I’ll drive my own car over there and let him throw a rock at me. I’ll have him picking up trash for years.”

Madison County Sheriff Randy Tucker, who held a press conference Sunday night in response to Stokes’ accusations, also was outraged. “I can promise you if he thinks I’m going to run from him, he’s tackled the wrong one. If I can find a criminal charge for what he’s done, I’m going to see him put in jail.”

Tucker said he had been fielding calls from residents of Jackson as well as chiefs and sheriffs nationwide.  “He wants to say that there’s three (problematic) sheriffs and that’s all? Mr. Stokes, I’ve got news for you, you’re about to find out there’s a lot more.”

Madison sheriff responds to Jackson councilman's remakrs

Stokes’ comments about police came Thursday after said he was told by residents of a high-speed chase on Mobile Avenue on Christmas Eve involving police officers from Flowood, Ridgeland and perhaps Pearl, though no specifics were made available.

Stokes, who continually called neighboring law enforcement officials “thugs with badges,” said he plans to ask the Department of Justice to look into what he believes is an increasing number of police chases into his ward. While he had no statistics — and chastised the media for asking about them — police pursuits have been an issue in Jackson over the years.

Stokes said the fact that his ward is largely black and the surrounding jurisdictions are largely white backs up his assertion that race is at play.

“These are misdemeanors,” he said. “These are not murderers or bank robbers. They have not kidnapped anybody. How is this racial? Let’s put the shoe on the other foot. Suppose (the) Jackson Police Department were chasing into Ridgeland and putting those white children in danger? Do you think those white folks would say everything is fine?”

Bailey pointed out that most of those chases at some point became felony fleeing when a suspect decides not to yield to the blue lights.

Stokes maintains the incidences of chases into Jackson had increased since the mayor and police chief are black and the city council is majority black.

He could not say whether there were black officers among those from other jurisdictions that had come into the city, but said he believed from what people on the streets had told him that they were all white.

Bailey said that if a crime is committed in Rankin County, his officers are within their jurisdiction to give chase.

Tucker said the Madison County Sheriff’s Department does not pursue a suspect misdemeanor offender into Hinds County or the city of Jackson but “will pursue a felony to all ends. Those are violent offenders, and we’re going to pursue them.”

Stokes also brought up former Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis, saying Lewis’ aunt was killed in a similar chase. Lewis struck back in a call to The Clarion-Ledger.

“I have nothing to do with this, I don’t appreciate being brought into it, nor my family. We’ve moved on into the private sector and to be brought into the shenanigans brings up old wounds that we’re trying to get past,” Lewis said, explaining that the chase involved a Jackson police officer inside the city of Jackson in 1997.

His mother was driving her best friend and a female cousin from Dallas when they were struck by a vehicle fleeing a Jackson police cruiser. The cousin was killed, Lewis said.

“As it relates to race, the officer that was chasing the vehicle was not a white officer, he was a black officer,” Lewis said. “I don’t appreciate being pulled into this situation. As a law enforcement officer, I denounce his statement, I think it’s a slap in the face to law enforcement everywhere, and I think it puts law enforcement officers in danger everywhere. I hope that we have citizens in communities that continue to respect law enforcement everywhere.”

The Jackson City Council released a statement Saturday denouncing Stokes’ comments as well.

“As president of the City Council I can say unequivocally that Councilman Stokes’ comments are indefensible and do not represent the Jackson City Council or the city of Jackson,” said Ward 2 Councilman Melvin Priester.

Yarber responded in a tweet, saying, “Calls concerning Councilman Stokes’ remarks should go to the councilman. He alone is responsible for his remarks.”

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow @TRex21 on Twitter.