Sam Dobbins, the chief of the Lexington Police Department in Mississippi, was fired on July 20, 2022, allegedly for making offensive and racist remarks. The council of aldermen dismissed him from office after an audio recording of him became widely publicized.
The chilling tape, recorded and released in April by a former Lexington police officer, shows minutes of vulgar language being used by Sam Dobbins, the former police chief. Dobbins was caught on camera speaking to Robert Lee Hooker while using homophobic and racial profanity. Black police officer Hooker left his position days after the lecture, blaming a toxic work environment for his election.
A civil rights and international human rights organization, JULIAN, obtained the recording from former police officer Hooker, who later released it to the media.
A Mississippi police officer is heard shouting homophobic and racist slurs while bragging about killing 13 people, claiming, “I shot the n——- 119 times, OK.” JULIAN’s creator @JillCollen chimes in an @FBI investigation and the firing of the police chief.
In a secretly recorded audio clip, former boss Sam Dobbins boasts of shooting a black man 119 times while telling the media he “don’t talk like that”.
A small-town Mississippi police chief has been fired from the police department for his outrageously racist and homophobic comments amid growing protests and Black Lives Matter marches. Sam Dobbins has been heard boasting that he shot a black man more than 100 times while on duty and murdered a total of 13 other people. You can hear him say:
“I fired 119 shots at that ass. I shot the car 319 times but I only hit him 119 times.”
Residents of the predominantly black town were appalled by the white police chief’s overtly racist remarks. Previous calls by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party for elected leaders to address the pressing issues of “police misconduct and abuse of power” have been unsuccessful. They said this in a statement posted on Facebook:
“In addition to discussions with the mayor and council of aldermen at their regularly scheduled board meeting, the MFDP has met individually with Mayor Robin McCrory on several occasions to discuss the illegal and unethical activities. The fact that this situation has arisen through the negligence of the elected authorities is disgusting and frightening. Listening to this recording validates what the neighborhood has been highlighting since Dobbins was recruited. His comments are hateful, racist, hateful and bad for the well-being of the population. This shot shows that the oppressors no longer dress in white sheets, but in police uniforms.”
Sam Dobbins confessed he was unaware he was being recorded when questioned by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting (MCIR). He also claimed that he “don’t talk like that” and denied ever using any racist epithets. State law in Mississippi allows the recording of a conversation without the consent of the subject.
Sam Dobbins has a history of harassing, abusing and arresting large numbers of activists, according to Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party President Cardell Wright.