New Pearl Police hire is met with pushback at community meeting

PEARL, Miss. (WLBT) - Over a dozen residents raised their concerns at a city of Pearl community meeting Friday night regarding the police department hiring former Richland Police Officer Jeremy Rast, who was fired last year for making “derogatory slurs” toward a Hispanic man.

Residents questioned whether he had learned from his mistakes and if residents could trust him in the line of duty.

The pushback stems from an incident last year on June 2 when Rast and other officers were responding to a domestic disturbance involving a gun.

Rast then had an interaction with Luis Rodriguez and others, which Rodriguez recorded.

That is when Rast made comments toward Rodriguez, like, “I will look for you every shift to try and arrest you,” and even “Go back to Mexico.”

These are the comments that residents brought up, questioning if they have to fear for themselves rather than trust those sworn to protect.

Chief McLendon answered those questions and concerns Friday night, standing by his decision to hire Rast after careful consideration. Chief McLendon also stated that Rast will go through more training before he returns to the line of duty.

The meeting then concluded with residents asking for another meeting to be set that would involve Rast so they could ask questions and raise their concerns directly with him.