SENATOBIA, Miss. (Sept. 2, 2026) –– Nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family of Kohen Wiley, is responding to the termination of Senatobia Police Chief Harold Vanderford. The Senatobia Board of Aldermen voted unanimously Tuesday to fire Vanderford following reporting that he repeatedly used racial slurs in text messages, including after he became chief. The board declined to accept a resignation letter Vanderford submitted earlier that day.
Kohen, 1, was fatally shot June 14 while in a vehicle outside a Walmart in Senatobia, where officers had responded to a reported shoplifting incident. Sgt. Hunter Foster was identified in Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) records as the subject of its investigation and was placed on administrative leave following the shooting. Foster was accused in an internal complaint of making a racially offensive remark toward a Black officer just two days before Kohen was killed. Nearly three months after the shooting, MBI has not released body-camera or surveillance footage of the encounter to Kohen’s family.
The family is calling on MBI to release that footage and to make public the findings of its investigation into Foster.
Attorney Crump issued the following statement:
“Removing this chief was the right decision, and the Senatobia Board of Aldermen deserves credit for acting. But it does not answer the question Kohen’s family has been asking since June 14: what happened to their baby? A 1-year-old was shot and killed by an officer of this department, and nearly three months later his family still has not been allowed to see the footage. The racist language that cost Chief Vanderford his job is exactly why this family cannot simply be told to trust the process. MBI has the footage. Release it, finish the investigation into Sgt. Foster, and give this family the facts they have been owed since the day Kohen died.”
###
MEDIA CONTACT:
[email protected]
ABOUT BEN CRUMP LAW
Through his work, nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump has spearheaded a legal movement to better protect the rights of marginalized citizens. He has led landscape-changing civil rights cases and represented clients in a wide range of areas including civil rights, personal injury, labor and employment, class actions, and more. Ben Crump Law is dedicated to holding the powerful accountable. For more information, visit bencrump.com.
