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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — One person was shot and critically wounded at a concert headlined by rapper Lil Baby in Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday night, police and local media said. The Memphis Police Department posted on social media that officers responded to a report of a shooting at 10:23 p.m. at 191 Beale Street, which is the address of FedEx Forum. A male victim was transported to Regional One Health Medical Center in critical condition and no other injuries were reported, police said. Lil Baby was rushed off the stage when shots were fired inside the venue, WREG-TV reported. Political Cartoons View All 1148 ImagesA representative for the rapper did not immediately respond to a request for more information from The Associated Press.

Persons: Lil Baby Organizations: The Memphis Police, FedEx Forum, Health Medical Center, Associated Press Locations: MEMPHIS, Tenn, Memphis , Tennessee

☆ Justice Department Opens Broad Probe Into Memphis Police Department
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Mariah Timms | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones Locations: memphis

☆ U.S. Justice Department investigating Memphis police for civil rights violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation into whether the Memphis Police Department has an unconstitutional "pattern or practice" of using excessive force and racial discrimination, department officials announced on Thursday. Earlier this year, the Justice Department agreed to join city officials and other agencies in a review of the Memphis Police Department after its officers fatally beat Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, in the Tennessee city in January. The federal investigation announced on Thursday is not tied to any specific incident, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said at a press conference, though she noted Nichols' "tragic death" in her remarks. "City and police department leaders recognize the need to scrutinize the police department's practices to prevent such incidents from ever happening again," Clarke said. Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Tyre Nichols, Kristen Clarke, Nichols, Clarke, Jonathan Allen, Aurora Ellis Organizations: U.S . Department of Justice's Civil, Memphis Police Department, Justice Department, Thomson Locations: Tennessee, New York

☆ Justice Dept. Opens Civil Rights Investigation of Memphis Police
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Rick Rojas | More About Rick Rojas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Justice Department said on Thursday that it had begun a sweeping civil rights investigation into policing in Memphis, examining allegations of pervasive problems with excessive force and unlawful stops of Black residents that were amplified by the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols in January. In announcing the investigation, officials specifically cited the death of Mr. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, whose beating by Memphis police officers on Jan. 7, 2023, was captured by body camera and surveillance footage. The case stoked outrage across the country and directed intense scrutiny onto how the Memphis Police Department operates. The investigation, officials said, intends to explore those broader concerns and whether there has been a pattern or practice of violating civil rights. Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said on Thursday that though Mr. Nichols’s death was a factor in the investigation, the inquiry was “not based on a single incident or event.”

Persons: Tyre Nichols, Nichols, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Kristen Clarke, Nichols’s, ” Organizations: Memphis, Memphis Police Department, Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Locations: Memphis, Minneapolis, Louisville, Ky

CNN —Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man who was violently beaten by Memphis police officers in January, died from blunt force trauma to the head and his death has been ruled a homicide, his autopsy results revealed Thursday. Nichols was repeatedly punched and kicked by five Memphis Police Department officers on January 7 following a traffic stop and brief foot chase. A toxicology report performed on Nichols detected the presence of chemicals associated with marijuana and alcohol use, the report says. CNN has contacted the Shelby County medical examiner to obtain a direct copy of Nichols’ autopsy report. The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office told CNN on Tuesday that it will not pursue criminal charges against Hemphill.

May 3 (Reuters) - An autopsy showed Tyre Nichols had a legal amount of alcohol and a trace amount of marijuana in his blood when Memphis police beat the Black man to death after a traffic stop in January, ABC News reported on Wednesday, undermining police claims that Nichols was high. Nichols' death provoked widespread outrage after police video showed officers beating and kicking Nichols, 29, as he cried out for his mother near his family home in Tennessee. Nichols' blood alcohol level was .049%, well below the .08% legal limit in Tennessee, and he had trace amounts of marijuana in his system, ABC reported. The video showed the first emergency medical technician to treat Nichols first asked him, "What'd you have? Crump and Romanucci are representing Nichols' family in a $550 million federal lawsuit against the city of Memphis.

☆ Autopsy Shows Tyre Nichols Died of Head Injuries From Police Beating
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emily Cochrane | Jessica Jaglois | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An autopsy report released on Thursday confirmed that Tyre Nichols died as a result of blunt force injuries to his head after a group of Memphis police officers brutally kicked and bludgeoned him. Shelby County medical examiners formally declared his death on Jan. 10 a homicide, describing severe injuries to Mr. Nichols’s head and neck as well as bruises and cuts all over his body. The report also found that on the day of the beating, Jan. 7, Mr. Nichols had a blood alcohol concentration of .049 percent — well below the legal limit for driving in Tennessee — despite insinuations from the police that he had been pulled over for driving while intoxicated. The formal assessment of what killed Mr. Nichols, about four months after a routine traffic stop turned violent, comes as prosecutors are continuing to investigate the beating. The brutality of the attack captured on body camera and surveillance footage, fueled a national outcry and drew scathing criticism over how frequently law enforcement in Memphis used excessive force and intimidation tactics.

"We're not endorsing what happened, but we do not believe that criminal charges are appropriate," Mulroy told reporters. An autopsy will be available soon and is expected to confirm that Nichols died of injuries from the beating, Mulroy added. Police video of the incident showed officers kicking, punching and beating Nichols with a baton on Jan. 7. Hemphill, along with those accused of murder and a seventh officer, were relieved of their duties by the Memphis Police Department. Prosecutors will not charge any other officer who arrived after the beating but are still investigating fire department staff, Mulroy said.

☆ Tyre Nichols’s Mother Sues Memphis, Police Chief and Officers Involved in Son’s Death
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Cameron Mcwhirter | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Brandon Dill/Associated PressThe mother of Tyre Nichols, the Memphis man who died in January after being beaten by police during a traffic stop, on Wednesday sued the city of Memphis, its police chief and others, including the former officers now facing murder charges in Mr. Nichols’s death. In the 139-page complaint, RowVaughn Wells said her 29-year-old son was killed in “a gruesome, barbaric display of police brutality on the streets of a quiet neighborhood in Memphis.” The complaint stated that Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis exercised poor training and oversight of officers and fostered an attitude among officers that they were above the law.

☆ Tyre Nichols’s Mother Sues Memphis, Police for at Least $500 Million After Son’s Death
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Cameron Mcwhirter | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

April 19 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Tyre Nichols' family filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court seeking damages from those responsible for the beating death of the 29-year-old Black man at the hands of Memphis police. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a tweet that the lawsuit would seek to hold the Tennessee city, the Memphis Police Department and individual officers accountable for Nichols' death in January. Nichols' death on Jan. 10 came three days after his beating by police during a traffic stop and triggered a nationwide outcry and protests, leading to the arrest and indictment for second-degree murder of five police officers. Police and fire department responders left a mortally wounded Nichols on the ground, his hands cuffed behind his back, and intermittently propped him against a patrol car. Besides seeking damages for wrongful death, Crump's legal team is also suing Memphis police for intentional infliction of emotional distress for lying to his mother.

A youth, later identified as Martin, was asleep in the driver's seat of the parked vehicle when officers arrived, police said. One of the Park Police officers jumped into the back seat and yelled, "Police, don't move. Jade Mathis, an attorney for the Martin family, told the Washington Post that their initial reaction to the footage was tears that quickly turned to anger. The attorney said the family wants the officer who shot Martin to be identified, prosecuted and terminated. Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Frank McGurty and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Death toll from US storms rises to 29
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 2 (Reuters) - The death toll from a violent storm that whipped up tornadoes in the Southern and Midwestern regions of the United States rose to at least 29 over the weekend, according to officials and media reports. In Memphis, Tennessee, two children and an adult were found dead on Saturday after the storm's heavy winds knocked trees onto several houses, according to the Memphis Police Department. In Tennessee's McNairy County, officials reported that an additional two people had died, having reported seven deaths earlier on Saturday, according to local media. U.S. President Joe Biden declared a "major disaster" in Arkansas on Sunday, ordering federal aid to help with the recovery. loadingSimilarly severe weather, including thunderstorms, was forecast for Tuesday in much of the Midwest between Chicago and Little Rock, Arkansas, the center said.

☆ Tennessee lawmakers worked to loosen gun laws in the weeks before a shooter killed 3 adults and 3 children at Covenant school in Nashville
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In the weeks before the Covenant school shooting, Tennessee lawmakers tried to loosen gun laws. Legislation moving through committees would lower the minimum age for carrying guns from 21 to 18. Tennessee's gun laws are already lax, allowing open carry of loaded handguns without a permit. Nashville Mayor John Cooper, speaking on MSNBC Tuesday, said he hopes this is a moment in which the state can get back to "common sense" gun laws, particularly with regard to assault-style weapons. Tennessee's gun laws are already considered lax.

March 21 (Reuters) - Virginia sheriff deputies and medical staffers wrestled with a handcuffed Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man, for several minutes at a state mental hospital before he died, video surveillance shows. Police have arrested and charged three former employees of the mental health hospital and seven sheriffs deputies of Henrico County, Virginia, with second-degree murder in Otieno's death. Most of the deputies and hospital employees involved in the case are also Black. The video, a download link of which was made available in court documents, shows about six officers carrying Otieno into a room. At times as many as 10 deputies and hospital workers held him down while his legs were shackled and his arms were held behind his back.

☆ Lieutenant in Tyre Nichols' death retired before termination hearing, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 18 (Reuters) - A lieutenant with the Memphis Police Department involved in the traffic stop that led to the killing of Tyre Nichols in January filed for retirement before a disciplinary hearing to fire him, according to media reports. The former lieutenant submitted his retirement on March 1, a day before officials at a hearing held in his absence determined he should have been fired, according to the reports. Disciplinary charges against Smith alleged he did not provide Nichols with appropriate medical care even as he heard the man say "I can't breathe." Five officers, all Black, have been criminally charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression for Nichols' death. A total of 13 officers have come under investigation for their conduct in Nichols' arrest, authorities have said.

REUTERS/Karen Pulfer FochtMarch 17 (Reuters) - The family of a Black man who died while in a Memphis jail on Friday called on authorities to identify the correctional officers involved in the altercation that killed him and to hold them accountable. Gershun Freeman, 33, died on Oct. 2 at the Shelby County, Tennessee, jail after being beaten by guards and held prone on the ground with a knee on his back for more than five minutes while handcuffed. More than five months after his death, the family is still seeking answers and justice, his mother, Kimberly Freeman, said at a press conference outside the county jail where her son was held. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident, while the Shelby County District Attorney office handed the case over to the Nashville District Attorney Office to avoid a conflict of interest. Released earlier this month, 14 minutes of video show the violent altercation between jail guards and Freeman that ended with his death.

☆ Tyre Nichols death: Memphis mayor and police chief requested DOJ's review of the police department
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Michelle Mark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Justice Department is reviewing the Memphis Police Department after Tyre Nichols' beating death. The review was requested by Memphis' mayor and police chief, the Justice Department said. The investigation was prompted by the death of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by Memphis police officers. It will also review specialized street crime units like the SCORPION Unit, which the department deactivated after Nichols' death. The review was requested by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis, according to the DOJ.

☆ Memphis to release more video, audio in beating death of Tyre Nichols
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Brendan O'Brien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

March 8 (Reuters) - Memphis was expected on Wednesday to release more than 20 hours of additional video and audio footage related to the killing of Tyre Nichols, an unarmed Black man who was beaten by police officers during a traffic stop in January. The city will also release records regarding the completed administrative investigations into the killing of the 29-year-old, she said. Nichols' death led the city council to approve a series of police reforms on Tuesday, including the creation of an annual review of training techniques. One video showed officers dragging Nichols from the driver's seat of his car before he runs away. Three members of Memphis Fire Department were also fired and one was suspended, Sink said on Tuesday.

Police officers involved in the deaths have become an intense focus of investigation, protest, and media coverage. Despite being at the heart of some of the most defining incidents in modern policing, most of the officers involved continue to live their lives under the radar. Insider's review of 72 cops involved in two dozen of the most notorious police killings of the past 30 years shows the many different paths officers have taken. There's no nationwide view into what happens to officers involved in egregious incidents of violence. In rare cases, cops involved in these killings have tried to publicly rehabilitate their image rather than seek out anonymity.

☆ Former Memphis Police Officers Plead Not Guilty in Death of Tyre Nichols
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Joseph Pisani | Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Five former Memphis, Tenn., police officers pleaded not guilty in the death of Tyre Nichols , a 29-year-old Black man who died last month after being kicked and punched by police during a traffic stop. Tadarrius Bean , Demetrius Haley , Justin Smith , Desmond Mills Jr . and Emmitt Martin III were arrested and charged with second-degree murder last month for Mr. Nichols’s death.

☆ Five former Memphis officers plead not guilty in beating death of Tyre Nichols
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Maria Alejandra Cardona | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Feb 17 (Reuters) - Five former Memphis police officers on Friday pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges stemming from last month's beating of Tyre Nichols, a Black man whose death three days later stirred outrage and fresh calls for reform. Police video captured images of the officers beating and kicking Nichols, hitting him with a baton, spraying him with pepper spray and firing a stun gun at him on Jan. 7 following a traffic stop. [1/3] Five former Memphis police officers who have been charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols appear during an arraignment hearing at Shelby County courthouse in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., February 17, 2023. Two Shelby County sheriff's deputies who responded to the scene were suspended five days without pay. Officers on the video said Nichols had swerved through traffic dangerously, and one said Nichols attempted to grab his gun during the scrum.

☆ Two sheriff's deputies suspended for role in Tyre Nichols incident
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Daniel Trotta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 15 (Reuters) - The Shelby County sheriff on Wednesday suspended two deputies without pay for five days for unspecified conduct after they appeared at the scene where Memphis city police severely beat Tyre Nichols, a Black man who died three days later. Memphis lies within Shelby County, Tennessee, and while city police usually have jurisdiction within city limits, county sheriff's deputies may also respond. Among those responding to the scene were Shelby County sheriff's deputies Jeremy Watkins and Johntavious Bowers, the sheriff's department said in the statement. Reuters could not determine if the deputies were represented by lawyers who could make a statement in their defense. The Shelby County Deputy Sheriffs Association, the deputies' union, could not be reached for comment.

☆ The white officer fired for his role in Tyre Nichols' arrest was once praised for his ability to 'extinguish a volatile situation'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Haven Orecchio-Egresitz | Narimes Parakul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tyre Nichols died three days after being pulled over and beaten by Memphis police officers. Preston Hemphill was the sixth officer fired over his role in Nichols' arrest. Hemphill, who joined the Memphis Police Department in March 2018, was fired on February 3 for his role at the scene of Tyre Nichols' beating. "As per departmental regulations Officer Hemphill activated his bodycam," Gerald said. Hemphill was the sixth and only white officer to be fired by the city of Memphis over the SCORPION unit's beating of Tyre Nichols.

☆ Memphis officers charged in Nichols death face review of older cases
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Brendan O'Brien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"This involves any criminal case that [the officers] were involved in. It is any case where there were criminal charges that were brought by the DA anytime since they became officers." The beating occurred despite the use-of-force policies that Memphis and other U.S. cities pledged to strengthen after the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The five officers were members of SCORPION, a now-disbanded specialized police unit that was formed in October 2021 to concentrate on crime hot spots. Several of the officers who have been fired had received written reprimands or short suspensions for violating department policies, according to their personnel files.

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