Mississippi City Ousts Police Chief After Racist Text Revelations

Senatobia's city leaders in Mississippi fired Police Chief Harold Vanderford after reports—verified by Mississippi Today, Verite News, and The New York Times—that he routinely used degrading language and racist slurs in text messages, a development that comes as the department is scrutinized for a white officer’s June fatal shooting of Kohen Wiley, a Black toddler at Walmart. The Board of Aldermen unanimously rejected his resignation and terminated him; Vanderford has not commented. The shooting is under investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and Vanderford had led the department since October.