A black man was run over by two white men in a pickup truck in Mississippi in what authorities are defining to be a serious hate crime. James Anderson, 49, was killed when a Ford pickup truck hit him outside a hotel near Jackson on June 26. He later died in the hospital.
Police are accusing Deryl Dedmon of driving the truck that killed Anderson. He was allegedly in the truck with John Aaron Rice. Both are 18 years old. They are also accused of assaulting Anderson before running him over. They are being charged with murder.
“It was an intentional act and it was a hate crime,” said the prosecutor.
Judge Ali Shamsiddeen raised Dedmon’s bail to $800,000 after hearing the details of what they allegedly did to Anderson.
“Dedmon murdered this victim because he was a black man,” said the prosecutor, Robert Shuler Smith. “We do have information that they were rejoicing after killing the victim.”
“I just ran that nigger over,” is what Dedmon allegedly said to a friend after the crime. Dedmon’s attorney, Lee Agnew, says that there is no evidence that his client is guilty of these “racial allegations.”
The incident took place in a part of town that is known for drug activity, but relatives of Anderson claim that he had nothing to do with drugs. There were two teen girls in the car when Anderson was run over, but they have not yet been charged. Detective William Waples says that one of the girls told officers that Anderson was killed in an accident, but later changed her story.











