A recent Mississippi police shooting has huge question marks all over it, involving three non-working body cameras, a cop’s stolen gun and an unauthorized ride-along passenger.  Everything in this story screams lies and coverup.

A handgun reported stolen from a   Columbus police officer’s home this summer was discovered “within arm’s reach” of a man fatally shot by police two weeks ago, according to the Columbus Police Department.

The  three officers involved in the shooting were wearing body cameras but they weren’t activated, according to CPD Public Information Officer Raymond Hackler.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is conducting an investigation. The release of the sequence of events that ended with the fatal shooting of 33-year-old Ricky Ball came from the Columbus Police Department.

At 10:08 p.m. on Oct. 16, a police cruiser — occupied by three officers and an unauthorized ride-along passenger — attempted to pull over a vehicle at 22nd Street North and 15th Avenue North, according to the release. The release did not cite the reason for the attempted stop.

The release identified the officers as Canyon Boykin, Johnny Branch and Yolanda Young. The three officers have been placed on leave, pending the results of MBI’s investigation.

The three officers were  “equipped with body cameras,” Hackler said, but the cameras had not yet been activated. One camera did “record events,” however, “approximately 30 seconds after the shooting.”

The driver of the vehicle was identified as Shannon Brewer. When Brewer stopped the vehicle, Ball, who was the lone passenger in the vehicle, “jumped out of the car and attempted to flee,” Hackler said in the release.

According to the release, “Officers attempted to arrest Ball which resulted in gunfire. Specifics surrounding why Ball was shot are still being investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.”

After the shooting, Hackler said officers “lost sight of Mr. Ball.”

Officers called for backup and searched abandoned houses in the area in an attempt to find Ball. A K9 unit was also called to the scene.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., Ball was found by officers between two houses on 14th Avenue North, a block and a half away from the stopped vehicle, Hackler said.

Ball was transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. He was pronounced dead at 11:12 p.m., Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant has said he  was shot once in the upper body and once in the lower body.

A Taurus 9mm handgun was found “within arm’s reach” of Ball when he was discovered by officers, Hackler said. Suspected drugs were also found near Ball, the release said.

The handgun was reported stolen from a CPD officer’s home on Aug.  5 along with a Glock .40, the officer’s service weapon.

The August burglary was the second burglary in a year at the officer’s home. In September 2014, five firearms, two televisions and an Xbox were reported stolen from the home. CPD is actively searching for the suspect, Arthur Danagelo Davidson.

The Mississippi city of Richland has a new $4.1 million police station, a top-level training center and a fleet of black-and-white Dodge Charger police cars.

All of it was paid for through civil forfeitures of property and cash seized during traffic stops of what police say were suspected drug runners on Interstate 20.

Civil libertarians question the constitutionality of civil forfeiture, which has become a key part of revenue for state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide. Under the laws of many states, citizens can be deprived of their property or even cash if police merely suspect the owners to be involved in criminal activity.

Mayor Mark Scarborough and police chief WR “Russel” James of Richland — population 7,033 and located south of Jackson on I-20 in Rankin County — say they’re not only giving city taxpayers a bargain, but they’re also helping do their part to stem the heavy drug trade that travels between Texas and Atlanta on I-20, which eventually trickles down to smaller cities like theirs.

Lee McGrath, legislative counsel for the libertarian Institute for Justice, said the tide is turning on civil forfeiture in the nation.

Both Montana and New Mexico have reformed their civil forfeiture systems, and former Attorney General Eric Holder announced a number of changes in civil forfeiture at the federal level.

“Why legislative efforts (to reform civil forfeiture) in Mississippi and across the nation will ultimately succeed is because forfeiture is contrary to basic American principles,” McGrath said. “In Mississippi and across the United States, the American people believe a person is innocent until proven guilty. And so should his property. Forfeiture is contrary to that.

“The American people believe in a separation of power between the legislative branch and the executive branch. Forfeiture is contrary to that as well. Forfeiture gives law enforcement and other members of the executive branch the sword and the purse. When those two combine, there is a high probability of corruption.”

In Mississippi, the Institute for Justice gives Mississippi a D-plus for its laws on civil forfeiture. The state needs only a preponderance of evidence that the property is related to a crime, a lower standard than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard required for a criminal conviction. McGrath said property owners in Mississippi can be acquitted in a criminal proceeding, but still lose their property since those claims are contested in civil court, where the burden of proof is on the property owner, not the state.

The state also doesn’t require police to collect or report data on forfeiture use or proceeds.

Since 2006, Richland’s four-officer interdiction team has racked up huge forfeiture numbers. In 2014, the team seized $506,400 in cash and property, helping boost the city’s civil forfeiture account to more than $2.3 million. For those keeping score at home, that’s $72 for every resident of Richland. The city also reported $400,000 in revenue from fines and court costs.

The city shares its part of the interstate and 50 percent of its seizures with the Pelahatchie Police Department, and 10 percent of every seizure goes to the office of the district attorney for Rankin and Madison counties, Michael Guest.

Those numbers are actually down from past years. In 2013, the department seized more than $1.2 million in cash and property.

Two years ago, Richland built a new training center with a target range used by 22 other law enforcement agencies in the area. The new police station, which opened last month, has spacious offices, a courtroom and better security than the old, cramped office across the street.

Richland’s interdiction numbers have been a huge money-maker for the police department, which, Scarborough said, has freed up city funds to invest in other needs, such as parks and a new fire station to replace the one destroyed by a tornado that hit the city last year.

“It’s great to be able to say that we built that building (the police station) and built it not only today, but built it for the future with funds that aren’t taxpayer dollars,” Scarborough said. “That frees us up huge with the rest of the city. Every other department benefits from the drug seizure deal.”

Scarborough started the interdiction program when he entered office in 2005, and it netted immediate results. One of the department’s first busts was $485,000 from a BMW on the back of a flatbed truck. James said the money was hidden in a secret drawer opened by pistons and a code. Another big bust was 40 to 50 gallons of pure methamphetamine oil contained inside a hidden tank in a truck.

“All of that money is being returned to the program and being returned to the city,” James said. “I don’t think you can use the money any better than we have rather than just stacking the money in an account.”

Per capita, Richland outpaces surrounding communities in the Jackson metro area. The city of Clinton, on Interstate 20 west of Jackson in neighboring Hinds County, declared only $10,000 in seized assets on the balance sheet of the city’s 2015 budget. In a 2014 audit of Brandon’s finances, the Rankin County city listed $567,510 in fines and forfeitures in 2013. In the city of Jackson’s most recent budget, the city listed more than $3.1 million in fines and forfeitures.

Published on Watchdog.org by Steve Wilson