WREG.com

Man accused of threats against County Commissioner Tami Sawyer in custody

George Johnson

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The man accused of threatening Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer was in custody Wednesday.

Jail records show George Johnson was booked on a midemeanor assault charge. Johnson walked in with his attorney Steve Farese and turned himself in around 1 p.m.


An arrest warrant was issued late Friday afternoon for Johnson, after he was seen on camera yelling profanities and insults at Sawyer while waving a Confederate flag at the former site of a statue of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in Memphis last week.

| Man seen on camera yelling profanities at Sawyer speaks as warrant issued for his arrest

The statue has been removed in 2017 and Johnson was working with a crew to dismantle the pedestal before it and the remains of Forrest and his wife were shipped to a museum in Columbia, Tennessee.

“I have no apologies whatsoever for what I did because this is my heritage,” he told WREG afterward.