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Jill Collen Jefferson, a Mississippi civil rights lawyer was arrested on June 10, 2023, at around 10 pm local time, after she was accused of recording a traffic stop conducted by officers from a department she is suing. The department in question is the Lexington Police Department, and she sued them on behalf of a group of local residents.
According to the lawsuit filed by Jill Collen Jefferson in 2022, Lexington Police Department has been targeting and harassing African-American residents and also mistreating them.
According to Jefferson's attorney Michael Carr, the civil rights lawyer told him that she would be taken into custody, the next time she enters Lexington. Carr also stated that an officer allegedly snatched Jill Collen Jefferson's phone, thus abruptly ending the call that she made to him.
Jill Collen Jefferson is the founder of a law firm that offers services to victims of discrimination
It was in 2022, that Jill Collen Jefferson, a civil rights attorney, filed a lawsuit against Lexington Police Department. She was suing the department on behalf of a group of local African-American individuals who alleged that the department harassed and mistreated them. The people were reportedly subjected to "targeting and merciless brutality" and "harassment, coercion, threatening conduct, and often brutal mistreatment," as per Law&Crime.
On Saturday, however, she was arrested by officers of Lexington PD, when she allegedly filmed them during a traffic stop. During the arrest, Jill Collen Jefferson called her lawyer Michael Carr, and he claimed to have heard a loud bang on her car door, possibly by an officer.
Jefferson, a civil rights lawyer, is the President and founder of JULIAN. This is a civil rights and international human rights law firm. She has also worked as a faculty instructor in a trial advocacy workshop at Harvard Law School for almost two years in 2021. Jefferson received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and obtained her JD degree from Harvard Law School.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Jill Collen Jefferson interned in the White House for five months in September 2010. She then worked for Obama for America as a Surrogate Speechwriter in 2012.
Authorities found a firearm in Jefferson's car
Carr confirmed that an officer identified as Scott Walter, asked for Jefferson's ID, which she produced. However, she refused to step out of her car. Walker then pulled the civil rights lawyer out of her vehicle and searched her car. During the search, officers recovered Jill Collen Jefferson's firearm that was under the driver's seat. According to Carr, Walter said:
“I hope it comes back as stolen.”
However, Carr confirmed that the firearm belonged to Jefferson.
According to Michael Carr, Jill Collen Jefferson was in prison until Monday, on a bond of $1,248.50 and a booking fee of $35. Jefferson, however, refused to pay the bond amount and the booking fee, after claiming that the arrest was unlawful.
“We’re concerned that this arrest was made in retaliation for the federal civil rights suit that Attorney Jefferson and her organization have filed on behalf of certain citizens of Lexington. We are also concerned that the practices involved in this arrest are commonplace and that this time, the Lexington Police Department arrested someone with a voice,” Carr told Law&Crime.
Jefferson was arrested and booked into Holmes-Humphreys County Regional Correctional Facility. She currently faces charges of failure to comply, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
