The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department is firing back at a local TV station which published a story about a college professor who claimed racial discrimination on a traffic stop.
The article published by WAPT / The Hearst Corporation on August 7, 2024, about Cpl. Tony Shack and the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) contains false allegations that were known to be false at the time of publishing. Cpl. Shack’s body worn camera (BWC) video of the entire traffic stop involving Chestley Talley was produced prior to this article being published and conclusively shows that Mr. Talley’s “allegations of attempted assault” and “civil rights violations” are false. Yet the article was published with full knowledge of the truth.
The BWC camera video shows a well-trained deputy conducting a proper traffic stop. Mr. Talley was not touched during the stop, he was not searched, his rental vehicle was not searched despite him possessing an expired rental agreement, the K9 (VooDoo) was not removed from the patrol vehicle, and the entire interaction would have lasted less than ten minutes had Mr. Talley not demanded to speak with a supervisor. Instead of complimenting Cpl. Shack for remaining calm and tactfully handling the situation, the article implies that he somehow acted improperly.
RCSD personnel suffer daily with the stigma of what occurred in January of 2023. But the men, women, and K9s currently with this department have never been associated with the “Goon Squad.” Cpl. Shack and VooDoo are dedicated to serving Rankin County citizens and visitors. And while this Department is committed to holding deputies accountable if they are in the wrong, it will also defend them against false allegations.”
The release, written by Rankin County Legal Counsel Jason Dare, addresses the story, saying that the news agency had knowledge that their characterization of the stop was inaccurate and that they had known that at the time the story was aired. The story brought up the “Goon Squad,” seemingly implying that they were tied somehow to the deputy shown in the story.
“While this Department is committed to holding deputies accountable if they are in the wrong, it will also defend them against false allegations,” the statement reads.
“He gave me a list of nine or 10 different drugs and wanted to know if I had those in the car. Did I have marijuana? Did I have cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs I have never even heard of before, and I said, ‘No and I’m not going to answer any more questions,’” Talley told a reporter, but this, among others of his claims, can’t be found to match his story on the body camera footage. Shack asked him about marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines.
The body cam video can be seen here, but if you don’t want to watch the whole thing, a summary follows the video:
It was released with roughly 40 minutes of body camera footage that in summary, shows Cpl. Tony Shack, an interdiction officer, interacting with Chestley Talley, whose LinkedIn says he is a contributing writer for the Global Briefing Report, as well as the director of career services at Jarvis Christian University in Tyler, Texas, on a traffic stop. In the video, Shack states that he pulled Talley over to check on him since his car had hit the white line multiple times.
Shack then begins making conversation with Talley, asking questions about where he was coming from and where he was going, what he’d be doing when he got there, and the like. He asks about weapons or drugs in the car, specifically marijuana and cocaine. These questions are standard procedure on any traffic stop by an interdiction officer, according to experts.
The conversation begins to ramp up when Shack asks Talley about his rental car agreement, which was expired. As the conversation begins to heat up, Talley asks to speak to Shack’s supervisor. Shack returns to his vehicle and presumably calls a supervisor, but the body cam audio is muted.
Talley tells Shack that he is frequently pulled over and questioned, and he commands Shack not to ask him any more questions. Shortly thereafter, Shack tells Talley that since he’s being unruly, he’s going to let him go.
Talley then approaches Shack’s vehicle and asks for his name and badge number, which Shack gives him. Shack asks him to step away from the vehicle, which he does not immediately, saying he wants Shack to give him a pen so he can write the information down.
Shack sits in the vehicle and again, his body cam audio is muted.
The audio comes on again when Talley comes to the door of the car to tell Shack that he has called 911 and they’re sending someone out. Shack explains that he’s trying to get his supervisor on the phone, then calls dispatch, who confirms that Talley has called in.
Another deputy comes over the radio, telling Shack that they were on their way to him, and he tells the other deputy, “I’m trying to get him to leave.” Then his phone rings and he tells the person on the other line that Chestley was “walking around my whole vehicle.”
Shack sits in the car on the phone with the audio muted again for some time. The camera shows his hand and his computer screens and steering wheel. Talley cannot be seen in the video at that point.
Shack gets out of the vehicle to tell Talley his supervisor would be there in about five minutes, and Talley can be seen typing on his phone. The two begin speaking again and Talley once again asserts that this always happens to him. He states that he would never tell someone where he works. Shack says he has not been disrespectful to Talley. He says he’s glad he has body camera footage that would prove that he had been respectful.
Talley tells him that he doesn’t have a right to search him or pat him down, then Talley jokes that maybe he should pat Shack down. Neither of them make contact with the other.
Talley gets in his car after Shack asks him not to, which Shack says is also routine since Shack had no way of knowing what was in the vehicle.
When Deputy Sentel Easterling arrives, he speaks with Talley, who says Shack wouldn’t give him his badge number, and when Shack says he did, Talley says, “Well you wouldn’t let me go get my pen.”
Shack gets back in the vehicle as Easterling and Talley speak.
After several minutes, Easterling comes to get Shack and tells him Talley has two questions he wants to ask him before he goes.
Talley asks Shack, “Why did you want to search my car for marijuana?” Shack replies that these questions are the same one he asks everyone and recaps asking the questions and then asking for permission to search, which Talley denied, and then saying he could run his dog around the car and search if the dog alerted.
Talley interrupted to say he couldn’t use his dog unless he knew there was marijuana in the vehicle, and both Shack and Easterling explain to him that Mississippi is an free air state and if the dog smells it he can search.
Talley asks him why he didn’t run the dog around the car, and Shack said the conversation went to another level when he asked to make sure Talley didn’t have a weapon and Talley didn’t want his body searched either.
Talley then tells both Easterling and Shack that neither one of them can search him without probable cause. “You have to have a reason, it’s not Russia,” he says.
Easterling tells Talley he can do a formal complaint at the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office if he wants to, and tells him how to get there. Talley says he’s not going there at that time. Then he says, “Pull over some white guy and you’re not going to ask him what does he do for a living, what hotel is he staying in, and all those things, this is 2025. Wake up, wake up, wake up.”
Shack answers that he would ask a white guy all those questions.
Talley then comes back to Shack and asks why he said he was going to arrest him, and Shack reiterated that it was because he asked Talley several times to step back from the car and he wouldn’t do it. At that point Easterling sends Shack back to his vehicle and the video ends.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Shack’s questioning of Talley is entirely consistent with what can be seen asked by him and other deputies of motorists of all races in Darkhorse Press’ ride along series “FRONT LINES,” which features the deputies of the Rankin County Interdiction Unit.
