MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A crowd control method on Beale Street was ruled unconstitutional, and now a federal court judge will decide how the city of Memphis should be punished.
These so-called police sweeps happened several times back in 2012, and WREG Investigators uncovered several complaints against the police department. People said they were choked, slammed into cars, and pushed to the ground.
Beale Street is one of the country’s most iconic streets, but back in 2012, police lights were part of that picture. The sweeps were an attempt to control the crowds in the early morning hours.
Police Director Toney Armstrong told WREG Memphis Police put an end to the practice back in June of 2012.
“We don’t do that anymore,” he said.
Robert Spence argues they never had the right to do it in the first place. He called it a blatant violation of civil rights, and filed lawsuits on behalf of an off-duty police officer and an ATF officer who say they were caught up in these sweeps and assaulted by police.
“They weren’t disorderly. They weren’t anything,” Spence said.
Now the Downtown Memphis Commission is in charge of what happens on Beale Street. It didn’t want to comment on camera because of the pending lawsuits, but said it effectively broke the pattern and fixed a lot of problems over the past year.
Ty Agee is head of the Beale Street Merchants Association.
“It wasn’t a horrible thing, they just did it as needed,” Agee said, “It wasn’t locked in stone and done every week.”
Agee argues the sweeps were helpful on really busy nights, but insists Beale Street is a safe place for anyone to visit, regardless of what time of day or night. He says they don’t need the sweeps to keep it that way.
“Perception and reality are sometimes different. The downtown ward, the safest part of the city, is downtown, always has been,” he said.
A federal judge will decide how to punish the city for these illegal sweeps on February 24. Spence argues that anyone who was arrested during the sweeps have those charges cleared from their record.
