Bettersten Wade (00:00):
Could you not say this is a vendetta or this is intentionally? It is intentionally.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Bettersten Wade believes the Jackson Police Department deliberately withheld information from her for five months about what happened to her son. Dexter Wade was struck and killed by an off-duty officer in a patrol car as he was walking near the interstate. That happened in March. Wade was buried in a popper’s grave before his family found out where his remains were.
Bettersten Wade (00:30):
He was my only son and I wouldn’t have never thought this had happened to him. Couldn’t nobody could have even told me in my sleep that that’s what happened to him.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
As I’ve heard it described the cop killing coverup case, and it’s important that we understand it from the family’s perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Speaking in a Monday morning news conference, prominence civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump representing Wade suggested there’s a connection to the long delay in the family finding out about Wade’s death and another case involving Bettersten Wade’s brother, George Robinson. Prosecutors say the 62-year-old Robinson died after he was body slammed and assaulted by three Jackson police officers in 2019.
Bettersten Wade (01:19):
I think so, because what other reason would you think that we go through six months and they don’t tell me who my son is. Is it hard? Is it hard for them to connect dots?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Her brother beaten to death right out here. Her son hit and thrown off in the grave. Now, I wanted to tell you, did they know? Did they know who he was? Did they know who she was?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The coroner identified Wade. About three days after he was struck and killed near McDowell Road and I55, they found Waite’s name on a pill bottle in his pocket, which led to the Heinz Behavioral Health Clinic.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
We have a record here from the coroner that we will share with you all.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
According to case notes, the coroner did have Waite’s mother’s phone number and address. Between March and June, the coroner called JPD seven times to ask whether the family had been notified that the body was in the morgue.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
If they really wanted to notify her that the police officer had hid and killed her son when he crossed the street, they could have came in knocked on the door.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
According to Wade, she filed a missing persons report about her son and even asked police several times to check the morgue
Bettersten Wade (02:36):
And they still missed it. What kind of system do we work upon? Do you think about the system here? Do we have a system that worked for us?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
City officials say what happened to Wade was an unfortunate, tragic accident and their investigation found no malicious intent by JPD staff.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Justice for Dexter.
Bettersten Wade (02:57):
Justice for Dexter Wade.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Crump now plans to petition a local court to get Wade’s body exhumed so the family can have an independent autopsy done and then give him a proper burial. In Jackson, Ross Adams, 16 WAPT News.