MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A civilian board organized to review complaints against officers said police were wrong when they arrested a man earlier this year.
Security cameras captured a man in a blood-stained shirt ringing a doorbell and screaming he’d been shot.
“I looked at the camera, and I saw a young man at the door bleeding,” said Reginald Johnson.
Johnson told the man on his porch to stay calm as he frantically dialed 911 that February night.
When police got there, video showed them speaking to the bleeding man then went into Johnson’s house.
Minutes later, Johnson was in handcuffs facing a list of charges including assault.
“I was telling them I’m the one who called you all! They didn’t listen to me,” said Johnson.
He said officers threw him to the ground in his hallway then beat and pepper-sprayed him.
Police said Johnson lunged at them.
There were no cameras to show what exactly happened. MPD’s Internal Affairs sided with the officers.
Johnson took his case to the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board, also known as CLERB, on Thursday afternoon.
CLERB’s Chairman Ralph White said looking at the video, it seemed officers had another agenda.
They want Director Michael Rallings to revisit the case and reprimand the officers.
Johnson admitted he has had issues in the past with MPD over his son’s murder in 2014, and officers knew him because of it.
“I’m totally afraid to call the police, because I feel like if I do or say something like that, they will jump on me. I think they just owe me an apology,” said Johnson.
The charges against Johnson were later dropped after he said the officers never showed up to court.
CLERB will take their findings to Director Rallings. He should have some kind of response by the next CLERB meeting.
He doesn’t have to do anything with the board’s recommendation.
We don’t know how seriously Rallings takes CLERB’s recommendations either since this is one of the first cases CLERB decided on since it was reinstated in 2015.