Mayor wants investigation into Beale Street arrest
Mayor Jim Strickland has called for an investigation after several Memphis Police Department officers dressed in riot gear were captured on video apparently tackling a woman on Beale Street early Sunday morning.
The video was captured by a Commercial Appeal reporter. In it, MPD officers can be heard yelling, “Somebody get the girl in the gray hoodie,” before several officers grab her and pull her down to the street.
The woman was identified as Victoria Jones, 29. She was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, rioting and resisting official detention after police attempted to break up an impromptu protest that began late Saturday night.
Strickland watched the video. When asked whether he thought officers acted appropriately, Strickland said he needed more information.
“I think it would require interviews,” Strickland said. “I have to know questions like: What were the citizens told? When were they told? How often were they told? What were the interactions with this woman before? Do we believe she heard instructions if any were given? There’s a whole plethora of information to really do a thorough investigation.”
Strickland has also requested an investigation be conducted after a Memphis police officer was captured on camera knocking down a woman protesting on Union Avenue last week.
According to police documents, Jones “knowingly participated in a group of about 150 rioters on Beale St. and Main St.”
Jones, the affidavit said, allegedly refused to leave the area after being told by police to do so on more than one occasion.
When officers tried to detain her, the report said, she resisted arrest. The police report does note that Jones told police she was leaving the area, but “that she was just not moving fast enough.”
Jones is the founder of Orange Mound arts nonprofit The Collective.
An impromptu protest
Saturday night’s incident happened as the city has seen daily protests in Downtown Memphis and across the county in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was arrested on thirddegree murder charges after video was released of him holding his knee against Floyd’s neck as Floyd, who died minutes later, repeatedly yelled, “I can’t breathe.”
The nightly protests started Wednesday on Union Avenue and had largely remained peaceful. Saturday’s march ended at the National Civil Rights Museum
just before 9 p.m. and hundreds who participated left the area.
Hours after the nonviolent protest ended, a second incident between officers and a group of people, most of whom did not attend the earlier protest, began.
In a statement published on Facebook Sunday afternoon, Memphis police said Saturday’s incident ignited when multiple people jumped on squad cars as officers were attempting to get the group to leave the area near the intersection of Main Street and Beale Street around 10:45 p.m. Saturday.
Police in riot gear wearing helmets and holding shields and wooden batons erected barricades and ordered people to leave the area around 11:30 p.m. as dozens of police cars lined Main Street on either side of the impromptu protest that formed.
Over a loud speaker, officers repeatedly told the more than 100 people present to “clear this area at once or the necessary force will be used to clear the area.”
Much of the crowd remained more than an hour later. Around 12:40 a.m., police started to line up and force the crowd away. Officers on horseback led the way while those on foot beat their batons on their shields yelling “move” and stepping forward with each beat.
The video of Jones’ arrest was captured at 12:43 a.m. Jones was released from jail hours later.
During a press conference Monday afternoon, MPD Director Mike Rallings did not comment on the video. He did not respond to a request for an interview with The Commercial Appeal to discuss the video and MPD’S relationship with Memphis’ black community.
While he said he had watched several videos of MPD officers captured during the protests, it’s not clear if he had watched this particular one.
“I need everybody to understand, if the police move in to make arrests, if individuals do not obey our order to disperse, an arrest is never going to be pretty,” Rallings said.
Protests continued Sunday evening. Some participants were seen throwing sticks and bottles, some glass though most were plastic, at officers in riot gear. While much of the night the protest remained nonviolent, near the end night some property was damaged and looting was reported
Once during Sunday’s protest, a handful of people marching down Poplar Avenue charged the Downtown Express convenience store, causing mild damage. Sometime in the night, some in the crowd — it was unclear if they had been among those marching earlier — threw items through windows at Winfield’s Fine Shoes and the Courtyard Marriott on Main Street.
“In the past 48 hours, we’ve had 10 businesses vandalized, three police cars vandalized, three incidents of officers being shot at. This is unacceptable and it will not be tolerated,” Rallings said at the press conference.
No officers were shot. It’s unclear if any of the shootings were related to the protests. Two happened in Downtown Memphis well after the protest that started Saturday night had ended. The third happened on Elvis Presley Boulevard, Rallings said.
One person, 39-year-old Marinease Jamison, was arrested in the first in the series. Police documents don’t link the shooting to the earlier protest. No arrests have been made in the other shootings.
Sawyer calls for more investigations
Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer said Jones is a “dear friend.”
She and a group of others went to 201 Poplar early Sunday morning to pick up Jones. Jones was not released until the afternoon.
Sawyer commended Strickland for requesting the investigation but said more investigations are needed.
“He cannot pick and choose,” said Sawyer who ran against Strickland in the most recent mayoral election.
Sawyer said she also wanted an investigation into the arrests of the other protesters who were arrested alongside Jones and into why tear gas was used on protesters the following night.
“While I am glad that Mayor Strickland is responding to the arrest of Victoria Jones, which was unnecessary and enacted violently, she was not the only person arrested,” Sawyer said, adding that at least one other woman arrested had been injured.
Sawyer went on to add that a more equitable community police strategy that activists have long been requesting is also missing.
At the press conference, Rallings said the police department is always working to be better.
“You’ve asked about cultural sensitivity, cultural diversity, cultural awareness, deescalation, impartial policing,” he said. “Let me assure you we already do those things. We have outside instructors come in. Our department constantly strives to be better and to learn more ways to work with our community.
“But when you take two incidents or a handful of incidents and highlight it and paint that as the picture of the entire department, that is not correct.”
Both Strickland and Rallings called the earlier nonviolent protest “powerful” and “meaningful” and said they would not impede on people’s right to protest as long as they were done lawfully.
A 10 p.m. curfew was announced to begin Monday night. Only essential workers and those experiencing medical emergencies would be allowed to be out without risking arrest.
Commercial Appeal reporter Micaela Watts contributed to this report.
Desiree Stennett is a reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.