MEMPHIS, Tenn. – – Police are investigating after a woman was attacked and robbed in the middle of a busy Memphis street.
City councilman Chase Carlisle said he witnessed the attack Monday morning at Poplar and Cleveland and stopped to help the woman. Police said she was yelling at a man to stop following her.
“I kind of honked my horn and waved my hand and they separated and then he just came at her and started swinging and hitting her in the face and this is in the middle now, middle and right lane of Poplar Avenue,” Councilman Carlisle said. “I put my car in park in the middle of Poplar, screamed at the guy to get away, walk away from her. He did.”
Carlisle said he checked on the woman as the man went down Cleveland toward Crosstown. Investigators say the woman’s alleged attacker stole her bus pass but her injuries weren’t serious.
Councilman Carlisle discussed the incident in Tuesday’s city council meeting. He feels it underscores the need for more police officers in Memphis.
“It would increase response time,” Carlisle said. “We absolutely need to support all our recruiting efforts to get more officers on the streets.”
He believes recruiting would be easier if the city relaxed it’s residency requirements and allow officers to live a certain number of miles outside Memphis.
“The quality of an officer is not where they lay their head or where they come from, it’s the quality of the person and the training they receive,” Carlisle said.
As for what happened on Poplar, investigators are still looking for the woman’s alleged attacker. Her step-father told WREG he hopes the man is caught soon and he’s thankful councilman Carlisle came to the rescue.
“I was very happy that I was able to help her,” Carlisle said.
Councilmembers were set to vote on a residency ordinance Tuesday but decided to table it until April pending possible action by the state legislature that would override any local decision on the matter.