Report: Hospital workers who released man just before he was killed in traffic no longer employed

Published 3:22 pm Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Two police officers who released a man killed in traffic no longer work for the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Hospital spokesman Marc Rolph tells WAPT-TV that officers Taaffe McGruder and Justin Harper are no longer employed. Rolph wouldn’t say whether they were fired or resigned.

The officers originally reported releasing 26-year-old Jaylion Jim at a downtown Jackson jail on June 18. They actually released Jim at a convenience store after the Hinds County Adult Detention Center in Raymond refused to jail him. That’s because Jim was charged only with misdemeanor public intoxication and trespassing.

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Store video shows Jim staggering into traffic on Mississippi 18, where he was hit and killed.

Rolph said earlier the medical center’s police chief has ordered officers to not release anyone without contacting a supervisor.