Civil rights attorneys and advocates said the cases differ in facts and legal status. But they said the families share a central complaint: State and local officials have not released enough information for them to understand what happened.
The cases discussed include fatal police encounters, law enforcement pursuits, an alleged beating inside a correctional facility and the fatal crash that killed 10-year-old Jordan Hill in Amite County.
Hill was riding an ATV near his home in April 2025 when he was struck and killed by a pickup truck. Cody Rollinson was charged with aggravated DUI and felony leaving the scene of an accident in connection with Hill’s death. A jury found Rollinson not guilty in January.
Maurice Brown, Hill’s grandfather, said the verdict has left the family still searching for accountability.
“He was only 10 years old, but this man was full of life,” Brown said. “He was full of life and love and energy. And it’s a blow to the entire community because he brought good with him.”
The Hill case differs from many of the others raised Thursday because it was not a police shooting or an injury in custody. Family advocates used it to make the same broader point: access to public records and transparency shape whether families can trust the official process.
Other families described different records they say they have been denied.
A representative for the family of Jayden Bridges, a 22-year-old who died after a pursuit involving a Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper in Copiah County, said the family wants to see dash camera footage.
Latarran Young-Neapollioun, Raju Neapollioun’s wife, said the family wants surveillance footage, incident reports, medical records and the names of officers and medical staff involved after her husband allegedly suffered traumatic brain injuries inside the Forrest County correctional facility.
The family of Jason Simmons, who was killed during a Harrison County Sheriff’s Office response in 2025, said they want video and other information released. Simmons’ family said they had asked law enforcement for help because he was having a mental health crisis.
Under Mississippi law, law enforcement incident reports are public records. But investigative reports held by law enforcement agencies are exempt from disclosure, though agencies may choose to release all or part of them.
Bobby DiCello, an attorney representing many of the families, said that discretion leaves families without answers.
“I promise you, if your biggest fear is what some of these families would do with that information, then you’ve got a bigger problem than them... The public records laws of Mississippi, like many states, need to be changed to embrace the communities that those laws are supposed to serve,” DiCello said.
The press conference also included relatives connected to the cases of Dexter Wade and George Robinson, two Jackson men whose deaths drew public scrutiny of death-notification practices.
Wade was struck and killed by an off-duty Jackson police officer in 2023 and buried in a paupers’ grave without his family being notified for months. Robinson died in 2019 after an encounter with Jackson police.
When asked for comment on the cases discussed during the press conference, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said the office does not comment on active matters, but noted at least some of the cases have been reviewed or are being prosecuted.
