JACKSON, Miss.—Kaychia Bell remembers her son, Kadarius Smith, as smart and independent. Funny and athletic. The teen loved to play basketball and eventually wanted to be a realtor to celebrities, his mom said. His loved ones affectionately called him “K.D.,” a nickname he took on after one of his favorite basketball players, NBA star Kevin Durant.
The 17-year-old Leland, Mississippi, high school student died in March of 2024 after a Leland police officer hit him in a police vehicle, the family says. The incident happened months before he was set to graduate from high school.
Bell accepted the diploma on her son’s behalf on May 26, 2025.
“His death affected a lot of people and it’s still affecting a lot of his friends and family today,” she told reporters on Aug. 21, during a press conference outside the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse in Jackson.
North Carolina-based civil rights activist John C. Barnett hosted the press conference.
Over a year after his death, Smith’s family says they are done hoping for transparency from the police force about what happened. They are now demanding that the officer whom they say was behind the wheel when Smith was struck be charged with a crime. Barnett said the officer was Black.
“He deserved to grow up, to learn, to grow old. What happened to him should not have happened,” his aunt, Latoya Combs, said. “No family should have buried a 17-year-old child because of the actions taken by those who swore to protect us.”
Kadarius Smith, pictured, died in a hospital on March 21, 2024, after a Leland, Miss., police officer ran him over while the teen was walking, attorney Ben Crump alleges in a March 27, 2024, press release. Photo courtesy Ben Crump Law " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Closeup of Kadarius Smith, smiling" class="wp-image-42270" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?resize=24%2C16&ssl=1 24w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?resize=36%2C24&ssl=1 36w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?resize=48%2C32&ssl=1 48w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kadarius-Smith\_courtesy-Ben-Crump-Law-1024x683.jpg?w=400&ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px">
Kadarius Smith, pictured, died in a hospital on March 21, 2024, after a Leland, Miss., police officer hit him in a police vehicle, attorney Ben Crump alleged in a March 27, 2024, press release. Photo courtesy Ben Crump Law
Bell said that her son had just left his girlfriend’s house on foot around 1 a.m. and was hanging out with a cousin when a police officer stopped them. She said she was going off of the cousin’s recollection of what happened because police have told her little about what led to Smith’s death.
Smith was “scared” when he ran from the officer, who then engaged in a pursuit in his police vehicle, his mother said.
The Clarion Ledger reported last year on a redacted Leland Police report that said police were called to the area around 1:45 a.m. on March 21, 2024, over “two suspects outside of the residence with handguns.” The report, which redacts the names of the responding officers, says that when the officers arrived, Smith “jumped from the porch” and one officer began chasing him on foot. The officer who authored the report wrote that he chased Smith on foot “to the rear of a dark residence that appeared to be abandoned” and then “stopped the foot pursuit, being unaware of Kadarius Smith’s location around the residence.”
“Kadarius Smith kept running onto Huddleston street where he then ran out in front of Officer (name redacted) who was driving a police unit in pursuit of Kadarius Smith,” the report continues. “Officer (redacted) could not stop the patrol unit immediately at that time which lead Officer (redacted) into hitting Kadarius Smith with the patrol unit. Kadarius Smith was later transported by Pafford to Delta Regional Hospital. Kadarius Smith was later pronounced dead.”
The report does not mention the recovery of any handguns, however.
Smith’s mother said Thursday that the explanation in the police report does not make sense to her.
Latoya Combs, aunt of 17-year-old Kadarius Smith, appeared outside the Thad Cochran Courthouse during a press conference in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 21, 2025. Smith’s family wants the Leland Police officer who they blame for his death him to be fired and charged with a crime for his death. Photo by Shaunicy Muhammad, Mississippi Free Press " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1" alt="A tearful woman looks on at the speaker of an outside press conference" class="wp-image-337082" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LaToya-Combs\_credit-Shaunicy-Muhammad-1024x682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px">
Latoya Combs, aunt of 17-year-old Kadarius Smith, appeared outside the Thad Cochran Courthouse during a press conference in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 21, 2025. Smith’s family wants the Leland Police officer who they blame for his death him to be fired and charged with a crime for his death. Photo by Shaunicy Muhammad, Mississippi Free Press
Last year, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is one of the attorneys representing the family in a pending legal action against the police force, demanded that the police department release unedited body cam video of the chase.
But former Leland City Attorney Josh Bogen told the Associated Press in 2024 that LPD vehicles were “not equipped with dashboard cameras nor were the police officers equipped with body cams” at the time of the teen’s death.
Barnett told reporters on Thursday that the group plans to soon hold a rally in front of the Greenville, Mississippi, school where they believe the LPD officer is now employed as a school resource officer.
“I’m giving them to next week to fire the officer, to terminate the officer and to charge the officer. I’m giving them seven days,” he said.
The Mississippi Free Press reached out to the school and to the Leland Police Department for comment on this story, but did not receive any responses by press time.