A Mississippi city councilman fed up with police chasing suspects wanted for minor crimes into his town has made a controversial suggestion: pelt them with rocks, bricks and bottles.
"That will send a message we don't want you in here," Councilman Kenneth Stokes in Jackson told the local NBC affiliate WLBT.
Stokes said officers from surrounding cities put Jackson residents in danger when they pursue people in his ward.
"What I suggest is we get the black leadership together, and as these jurisdictions come into Jackson we throw rocks and bricks and bottles at them," he said on New Year's Eve.
The councilman also called for legal action against police agencies that chase misdemeanor suspects into Jackson city limits.
Area law enforcement officials condemned the remarks. Madison County Sheriff Randy Tucker said on Facebook: "Law Enforcement will not be intimated by you. Any Madison county law enforcement that is attacked because of your ignorant statements, I will hold you responsible."
Tucker said he would contact the Mississippi attorney general to see whether the comments constitute "assaults on officers by threat." A segment of Jackson extends into Madison County, which is north of the city.
The Calhoun County Sheriff's Department said in a statement Friday the department would not do any business with any business inside Jackson, and urged other departments to do the same until Stokes is out of office. Calhoun County is about 150 miles north of Jackson.
Stokes did not return an email seeking additional comment and there was no answer at this ward office. But he has a history of making controversial statements.
In 2014, when he was the Hinds County Supervisor, Stokes claimed at a public meeting that he believed former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba "was murdered" — even though the county coroner concluded the ailing mayor had died of natural causes, according to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson.
