Recent Developments in Memphis

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I just did a quick search for “Memphis” to make sure there wasn’t a threat about the horrible murder by the police in that city. There does not seem to be one. (There are threads about lots of bad things that have happened in that city. Tough town.)

The story of the murder of Tyre Nichols is well-known at this point. There simply cannot be any justification. It got even worse when we discovered the medical people were part of it. These are supposed to save lives.

But there is an under-reported development. It is sort-of related. The other day, a pair of policemen were called to a public library in the nice part of town. A homeless person (or an “unhoused person” if you prefer) was making trouble and was reported for trespassing. There was no fight it seems. The guy pulled out a gun and shot and wounded a policeman. His partner shot better and killed the trespasser.

Last night Officer Geoffrey Redd was in very serious condition.

That’s all. The two are not directly connected. Well, except as example of how very violent our society has become.

2

I see today’s New York Times has an article detailing all the horrible stuff that has happened in Memphis of late. (But not the policeman being shot.) It is a hot mess.

3

You must’ve missed this thread:

4

You must have missed this sentence. I searched for the wrong term.

5

Should have searched for Tyre Nichols. It was the first result.

6

Yep. I have a long history of starting threads like this. I tried to be careful this time. Sorry.

7

The Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people, according to the findings of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation launched after the beating death of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop in 2023.

Yet Memphis is 64% black. The Mayor is black as is the majority of the city council.

I find it rather odd that the black Mayor and majority black City Council decided to have a Police Department which discriminates against blacks.

8

I don’t expect to hear of federal investigations and intervention like this for the next four years.

9

The three defendants still face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

It’s hard to understand why they were acquitted.

10

No it isn’t. Although I assume you were being sarcastic.

It’s easy to understand why they were acquitted. It’s impossible to understand how they were properly acquitted.

11

I didn’t put this in the other thread mentioned above because that one had devolved into a gun debate and never followed up on the trials of the officers who killed Tyre Nichols. Two officers pleaded guilty in the state and federal trials. The other three had been found not guilty in the state trial. In the federal trial, they were found guilty on some charges and not guilty on others. They were to be sentenced this week. Now the three officers are getting a new federal trial because of suspected bias of the original judge.