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Surveillance Video Shows Mississippi Cop Dropping Off a Homeless Woman In Another Jurisdiction, Black Mayor of City Speaks Out: ‘This Is Not the First Time’

A Mississippi city is looking for solutions after a police officer from a different jurisdiction dropped a homeless woman off in a parking lot and abandoned her.

A surveillance camera filmed the unidentified Ridgeland Police officer depositing the woman in the parking lot of a business. The incident occurred on Saturday morning in Jackson, according to WLBT. The beginning of the video starts with the officer pulling into the parking lot.

Surveillance video showed a Mississippi police officer abandoning a homeless woman in Jackson, the state’s largest city. (Photo: Screenshot)

After he stopped the cruiser, he got out and opened the door directly behind the driver’s side. Seconds later, the homeless woman emerges from the backseat with some of her belongings. Once she placed them on the ground, she went back into the cruiser to retrieve her other items. After she was done gathering her stuff and closed the car door, the officer got in the driver’s seat and drove off.

The woman was eventually picked up at a local coffee shop by a Jackson police officer.

Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee told WLBT the woman was picked up in Ridgeland because she was reportedly harassing customers at a local business. The officer reportedly offered to give her a ride but refused the destinations she chose because they are known for drugs and panhandling.

“He told her he would take her to a safe place,” said McGee.

Chokwe Antar Lumumba, mayor of Jackson, addressed the incident during a news conference on Monday.

“This is not the first time it has happened. This is the first time it was captured on video,” Lumumba told the media. “And it’s not just one jurisdiction, it is multiple jurisdictions that been bringing people into Jackson.”

Chokwe Lumumba, Jr. (Credit: WikiCommons)

He revealed he’d spoken to McGee who reportedly told him it was not “protocol for officers to do this, and that the officer would be directed not to do this — driving people into the city of Jackson who are suffering from issues of homelessness, drug abuse, and a number of other things they need support systems for.”

Lumumba argued the city of Jackson should receive additional funding if other districts plan to continue this practice, which he deemed “unacceptable.”

“This is not an issue that we can turn a blind eye to,” he said. “It’s not something that we can shuffle off on [to] Jackson. It’s an issue that exists for the entire Jackson region.”

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