MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Viral videos of an arrest made in East Memphis are turning heads among city leaders, and they want answers from the Memphis Police Department.
During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, council members asked Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings about the videos that WREG brought to light in a story the day earlier.
The videos show officers using force while making the arrest, and then losing their tempers as family members of the suspect record the scene and yell.
Elected officials want to make sure there’s accountability at the end of MPD’s internal review.
“Is there an investigation going on as it relates that particular incident?” Councilman JB Smiley asked Rallings.
Rallings said the department is investigating the incident, but also offered the law enforcement perspective.
“We want our officers to keep their cool in all circumstances, but we know that is not always possible,” Rallings said. “The officers that acted out there, I thought acted appropriately.”
Officers say they were responding to a call about a domestic issue on Wedgewood Street and less than a minute after pulling up, were already using force on the suspect.
MPD says they had been to the house two times before, and records show the suspect does have a history of domestic violence, but the woman who called police tells WREG-TV, she just asked them to remove the suspect from the property.
Over the next few minutes, officers struggled with the man, 35-year-old Landreo Lurry. They continue to punch him while he seems to be restrained. At one point, it appears that an officer has to be restrained by other officers, while another officer screams at the family involved.
Pastor Ricky Floyd is the former chair of CLERB, a community activist who has also been trained to see through the perspective of law enforcement. He agrees a deeper dive into the details is necessary.
“We need to know what happened that would cause the police in their minds, right or wrong, what would cause them to try and justify using some force,” Floyd said.
City Council has requested the results of MPD’s report, and one arrest, two misdemeanor citations and two juvenile summons were issued as a result of the incident.
But for community leaders, it’s a troubling sign of a larger problem.
“We’ve got to have meetings where trust, clarity, understanding and a spirit of unity comes together,” Floyd said.
WREG has requested the background files for the officers that were involved in the incident and will update this story as we get more information.
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