Senatobia Fires Police Chief Harold Vanderford Over 10 Racist Text Conversations
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 2
Senatobia Fires Police Chief Harold Vanderford Over 10 Racist Text Conversations
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 2
Summary
Senatobia’s Board of Aldermen unanimously fired Police Chief Harold Vanderford late Tuesday after rejecting the resignation letter he submitted earlier that day.
10 text conversations dating to last summer showed Vanderford using degrading language and a racist slur against Black people more than a dozen times, according to reporting by Mississippi Today, Verite News and The New York Times.
The termination lands amid heavy scrutiny of Vanderford’s department after a white officer fatally shot Kohen Wiley, a Black toddler, while responding to a Walmart shoplifting call in June.
Mississippi Today and Verite published the uncensored messages a day before the firing, along with details of how they verified them.