MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Wednesday marked one month since Martavious Banks was shot by police and one of his one-time friends says she’s had her own encounter with one of the officers who was chasing him September 17.
Tamara Ingram said she was nine months pregnant in August 2017 when Michael Williams and several other officers arrested her. She had been pulled over for a busted windshield, but was placed in handcuffs when she allegedly disobeyed commands.
“I just thought it was strange for it to be so many male officers restraining a pregnant woman,” said Ingram.
MPD’s internal investigators found Williams, who is the son of the Memphis Police Association president, had turned off his body camera at some point before Ingram’s arrest.
Police said he did the same thing with either his body camera or dash camera at some point during his encounter with Banks.
“This is not nothing that you just all of a sudden started doing. Like, how much stuff have you really covered up, you know, like, before the body cameras?” Ingram said.
Ingram had been given a citation and was waiting for a ride while her car was towed.
According to police, footage from other officers’ body cameras showed Ingram yelling into her phone.
When an officer warned her to calm down and she didn’t, police said the footage showed Ingram being handcuffed and then dropping to the ground.
“As they came towards me, I remember shielding, holding my belly and dropping down ’cause I didn’t know what they were about to do,” Ingram said.
At that point, Williams’ body camera was off, but it was on when he first arrived on scene.
Williams told investigators he had turned it off since he had already given Ingram a citation and was planning to leave.
When she became irate, he said he helped other officers arrest her, but never turned his body camera back on.
Police found no evidence to support Ingram’s claim of excessive force against another officer, but did issue Williams written reprimands for turning off his body camera and failing to file some paperwork.
Williams has been with MPD since August 2015.
