Tag: Memphis Police Department

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News The Fly-By

Wrongful Deaths?

On the night of January 11, 2013, 67-year-old Cordova resident Donald Moore ran for cover in his bedroom as he heard people forcing their way into his home.

Minutes before, a member of the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) TACT Unit busted out a window of Moore’s home, throwing a flash-bang grenade inside. Other officers entered the back of his house, deploying additional grenades. Fearing for his life, Moore dialed 911.

Phillip Penny

“He is on the phone with 911 when Officer [Phillip] Penny shoots him,” said attorney Howard Manis. “He shot him with an M-4 Rifle three times at close range.”

Bullets from Penny’s assault rifle entered Moore’s neck, torso, and right shoulder, traveling into his chest and mortally wounding him. Penny would later allege that Moore pointed a gun at him and several Memphis Animal Services employees who were at his home to serve an animal cruelty warrant.

On behalf of the Moore family, Manis, along with attorney Jeffrey Rosenblum, has filed a $3 million wrongful death lawsuit against Penny, the MPD and its director Toney Armstrong, TACT Unit Commander Charles Morris, and the city of Memphis.

A week after Moore was shot and killed, 24-year-old Steven Askew fell asleep in his car at the Windsor Place Apartments on January 17th while waiting for his girlfriend to get off work.

Ned Aufdenkamp and Matthew Dyess

Two MPD officers, Ned Aufdenkamp and Matthew Dyess, noticed Askew asleep and, upon suspicion, approached the vehicle. The officers stated that as they got to the car’s window, they noticed a handgun in between Askew’s legs.

The officers tapped on the window while shining flashlights into the vehicle, awaking Askew. The officers stated they told Askew to raise his hands. Instead of complying with the requests, they allege Askew threw some “gang signs” before arming himself with the handgun and pointing it at them. The officers reacted by discharging their weapons, leaving Askew’s car riddled with bullet holes, nine of which fatally entered his back, arms, and the back of his neck.

Manis and Rosenblum are representing the Askew family, which has filed a wrongful death lawsuit amounting to $3 million in damages as well.

“We need to focus on what they did and their explanations and then determine whether or not those were part of a policy procedure or their deviations from that,” Manis said.

Officers Aufdenkamp, Dyess, and Penny were relieved of duty with pay during the investigation into their shootings. No criminal charges were filed against the officers, and the MPD’s homicide bureau declared both shootings justifiable. All officers remain employed with the department.

A month before the fatal shootings of Moore and Askew, MPD officer Martoiya Lang was murdered as she served a search warrant on December 14, 2012.

Manis questions whether there was additional training and counseling provided to circumvent problems that could arise as a result of the MPD being on “heightened alert” after Lang’s death.

In addition to providing both the Moore and Askew families with some relief for their loss, Manis said he hopes the lawsuits spark a change in how the MPD trains its officers on the appropriate timing to exhibit excessive force.

“These are two people who died at the hands of those who have been sworn to serve and protect, and neither were committing crimes,” Manis said. “One was in his home and the other was in his car, and now they’re dead. And they were killed as a direct result of police officer conduct.”

At press time, Manis was still awaiting a response from the defendants named in the lawsuits. The MPD did not respond to the Flyer‘s request for comment.

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Memphis Crime Rate Declines In 2013

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Over the 2013 calendar year, Memphis witnessed a 4.5 percent reduction in “part one” crimes, which include criminal homicides, robberies, forcible rapes, and aggravated assaults.

From January 1st – December 31st, 2013, there were 2,313 fewer victims of part one crimes reported as opposed to 2012, according to Memphis Police Department statistics. In 2012, there were 50,917 part one crimes that took place in Memphis. However, these numbers dropped by 4.5 percent to 48,604 crimes last year.

Among the part one offenses that have decreased include criminal homicide. There were 11 fewer criminal homicides in 2013 compared to 2012, which is a 7.9 percent decline. Also, there were 71 fewer forcible rapes in 2013 compared to 2012, which is nearly a 17 percent decrease.

Other part one crimes that declined in 2013 include robbery, which saw a 7.5 percent reduction; aggravated assault, which was reduced by 5.9 percent; burglary, which saw a 5.3 percent reduction; and motor vehicle theft was reduced by 8.7 percent.

“We do not believe that these reductions could have been realized without the hard work of our officers utilizing crime fighting and efficiency promoted by the department,” said MPD spokeswoman Karen Rudolph in a statement. “These methods include our Community Outreach Program (COP), Blue CRUSH, Precinct realignment and the movement of General Investigation Bureaus back to the precincts. All of these initiatives have worked hand-in-hand to accomplish the city’s success in reducing crime.”

Since 2006, the city has experienced a 29 percent reduction of part one crimes. There were nearly 20,000 fewer victims in 2013 (48,604) than 2006 (68,543).

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Calling the Bluff Music

Knowledge Nick Speaks On Trolley Night Cypher Incident

CREDIT: Dustin Taylor/Sideways Media

Dustin Taylor/Sideways Media

Local hip-hop artist Nick “Knowledge Nick” Hicks didn’t anticipate that when he organized the October installment of the popular “Trolley Night Cypher Series” event last Friday, it would be ended by angry Memphis police officers holding night-sticks and pepper spray.

On Friday, October 25th, Hicks and around 50 other folks gathered in front of the K’PreSha clothing boutique in the South Main Arts District to participate in the cypher (an event that involves people freestyling one after another). The event followed the South Main Art District’s monthly Art Trolley Tour Night, during which art galleries and shops offer art shows and other special events such as live entertainment.

Hicks said everything appeared to be going fine until around 10:30 p.m. (past the usual Trolly Night hours of 6 to 9 p.m.) when MPD officers approached K’PreSha and requested for the group to end the cypher in an aggressive manner. He said the officers didn’t explain why they wanted them to end the gathering initially. But subsequent to onlookers beginning to record the incident with their phones, the officers stated that they had received a noise complaint.

“First the police officers were like ‘You guys need to get on the sidewalk.’ Once we got on the sidewalk, everybody started pulling out their phones and filming,” Hicks said. “Once we started doing that, they started telling us that we need to leave or get inside K’PreSha.”

Shortly after the officers requested for them to end the cypher, one of its participants jokingly made a comment that the officers didn’t take too kindly.

“My partner, he was just playing. He was like, ‘Let me see your license and registration,’” Hicks said. “The police got mad, super aggressive, and they tried to arrest my partner. Another guy was out there trying to break up the police and [my friend], and the police were roughing the dude up. They were manhandling him, and they pushed him against the car.”

When the commotion ended, two people had been arrested and many more were upset and in disbelief at the way MPD officers handled the situation. Hicks said he believes that the MPD didn’t like that there was a crowd of predominantly black people doing hip-hop. He believes the situation would have panned out differently if they were indulging in another genre of music or the crowd was more diverse.

“I’ve seen police brutality and harassment on TV, but seeing it and experiencing it in person, you have no idea how much of an experience it was,” Hicks said. “It was so tough to watch, and we almost felt like black kids in the ’60s. These people brought nightsticks out, and we were unarmed. They used pepper spray, but for what reason? My thing was, we’re unarmed people at a positive event, and you guys come here [and act] aggressively. You come here [and act] defensively. And then you come here [and act] hostile. And all this was caused by you guys. There were like 13 police cars down there and like 15 or 20 cops for this whole ordeal, but this was because we were rapping. We were just rapping.”

Hicks is determined to bring awareness to MPD’s conduct. He organized a town hall meeting at K’PreSha the Sunday following the event to make his peers more aware of the rights they can exercise if they encounter a similar situation with law enforcement. The media was invited to the meeting, camera phone-captured videos of the incident were shown, and some of those who were in attendance at the cypher expressed their thoughts.

Video footage of the occurrence has also been featured on several local media outlets. And Hicks has even had a candid conversation with Lt. Dale Hensley of the South Main Police Station about the incident.

“I told him the situation should have been handled differently,” Hicks said. “‘All of the ruckus was caused by you guys. You brought all these cops out here, all these cars out here, to arrest two people just because we were rapping and expressing ourselves. Clearly, [videos] show we weren’t being rowdy. And clearly, it was a peaceful event, but you guys came out here causing hell.’”

Hicks said although Lt. Hensley provided him with a verbal apology on behalf of the officers, he won’t be satisfied until the MPD provides a written statement that both conveys their regret for their conduct and accountability for their actions. He thinks this will potentially lower the chances of a similar situation taking place in the future.

“When I think about Friday night, I think about the two hours of everybody having fun, doing their thing, and people just coming and watching,” Hicks said. “But at the same time too, it’s like, we’re still fighting this oppression from the police force. As hip-hop artists or artists in general, we are a voice for the voiceless and now we have to go another step to do the same thing when it comes to this issue right here and really push the boundary and be a voice for the voiceless who have experienced this, or may be afraid to step up, or just lost hope. The same logic I have with music, I’m using to parallel it with getting a change done with this situation.”

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City Of Memphis Issues Demonstration Permit to KKK

Photo from a KKK rally last year in Charlotte, North Carolina

  • Photo from a KKK rally last year in Charlotte, North Carolina

The city of Memphis has officially approved a demonstration by the Loyal White Knights, better known as the Ku Klux Klan, to be held on March 30th.

City officials and police director Toney Armstrong have been discussing the issue for days, and the permit was finally approved after Armstrong gave the okay to proceed.

“Based on director Armstrong’s decision, the permits office took appropriate steps earlier today to issue the permit and contact the applicant,” said city attorney Herman Morris. “We have known from the beginning that denying this application would result in a legal fight on constitutionality that would be long, divisive, expensive, and that would unnecessarily prolong the decision. We have all, however, been very attune to director Armstrong’s review given the critical role the Memphis Police Department will play in a proposed demonstration.”

The KKK submitted their application to demonstrate following the Memphis City Council’s decision to change the name of Forrest Park and other city parks named with Confederate themes.

“My primary focus is the safety of the public and all involved,” Armstrong said. “It will be in all of our best interest to have a demonstration where we are able to work with this group in setting the do’s and don’ts. Right now, my team has a strategy that will ensure everyone’s safety. What we absolutely do not want is some unplanned, spontaneous demonstration where my team has not been involved in planning and set-up.”

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Memphis Police DUI Officer Delivers Baby, Saves Its Life

Anthony Morris

  • Anthony Morris

Memphis Police DUI Officer Anthony Morris is used to saving lives by getting drunk drivers off city streets. But early Friday morning, he saved a life in a much more direct way.

Morris was on patrol around 2 a.m. near American Way and Cherry when he noticed that a woman standing at the driver’s side rear door of a Dodge Charger was flagging him down. As he approached the Charger, he noticed another woman lying in the backseat. That woman was having contractions and going into labor.

Morris called the police communications dispatch and began assisting the pregnant woman with delivery. But as the child emerged, Morris noticed it wasn’t breathing because the umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck. The MPD dispatch and Memphis Fire Department dispatch personnel gave Morris instructions for safely unwrapping the cord and helping the child breathe.

Fire department officials arrived on the scene shortly after and transported the mom and child to Methodist Germantown. The MPD reports that the mother and child are doing just fine.

Morris, who has been with the MPD since 1994, will be nominated for the MPD’s Lifesaving Award.

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Memphis Police Department Receives Criticism and Praise From Citizens

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Representatives from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) hosted a public meeting at the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) Crump Station Monday evening to gather comments and concerns as it considers whether or not to reaccredit the department. MPD is seeking reaccreditation for another three years. It was last accredited in 2010.

Outside the station, a small group of protesters from the Memphis Black Autonomy Federation held signs protesting recent MPD-involved shooting deaths, such as the deaths of 24-year-old Steven Askew and 67-year-old Donald Moore, both killed this year by officers who claimed guns were pointed at them by the victims.

The federation submitted its public comment in the form of an eight-page emailed letter that includes a section titled “Body Count,” which details 13 deaths that occurred either through shootings by officers or while suspects were being held in police care. They are asking CALEA to deny MPD’s reaccreditation citing “several incidents of deadly force against people of color, unprofessional conduct, and corruption within the Memphis Police Department,” according to a press release from the group.

Since those comments were submitted before the meeting, federation members did not speak at the public forum. They did offer comments to media outside the station.

“We’re just asking for democracy and fairness,” said Rochelle Carraway, addressing the issue of whether or not the MPD should receive reaccreditation. “If you don’t have to kill, don’t. It’s gotten out of hand.”

Lorenzo Ervin agreed: “We just want [CALEA] to be as thorough as possible. We don’t want the [the MPD] to be legitimized by them.”

Inside the meeting, some public comments echoed those of the protesters outside. Robert Gurley said he’d like to see a little more professionalism within the department, and Kenneth Van Buren, who often organizes direct actions against what he sees as injustices in city government, said he has asked the Justice Department to send a task force to Memphis to investigate the MPD.

“I’ve tried to talk to the [police] director, and my calls have gone unanswered,” Van Buren said. He said he’s unhappy about recent shootings. He also believes the MPD is guilty of evidence tampering, and he wants all officers to have to submit to regular random drug screenings.

But the majority of comments made inside the meeting were overwhelmingly positive. Dwight Montgomery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, did mention that “on one end of the scale, you have a small group of police officers who have acted inappropriately,” referring to officers involved in recent shooting deaths. But he praised the department as a whole for dealing with what he called “major crime problems happening every weekend in certain neighborhoods.”

Memphian Christopher Edwards agreed: “The police officers who serve us have taken on the responsibility of a job that very few men and women would agree to take. We need to be objective when looking at them.”

“I am most grateful and thankful that these people come to work everyday,” said commenter Jennifer Bush. “There have been isolated incidents and tragedies, but these could have happened in many other places.”

Public comments are still being accepted by email, phone, and snail mail. Direct comments to CALEA at calea@calea.org, call (703) 352-4225, or mail a letter to the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, 13575 Healthcote Blvd., Suite 320, Gainesville, VA 20155.

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Calling the Bluff Music

MPD Veteran Shares Thoughts on Negative Perception of City Officers

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Over the last few months, several Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers have made headlines. It began with the murder of Officer Martoiya Lang, who was fatally shot on Dec. 14th, 2012 as she served a drug-related warrant at a house in East Memphis.

“[Officers] never discuss being harmed, but we try to be as careful as possible,” said 13-year MPD veteran Gloria Suggs. “It’s something that we keep in the back of our mind. You don’t want to think about not going home to your family. You just want to keep it positive and believe that everything is going to be okay.”

Nearly two weeks after Lang’s death, on December 27th, MPD officers fatally shot Charles Livingston, an armed robbery suspect, after he fled through the woods from a McDonalds on Frayser Boulevard. Officers said he pointed a gun at them, which led them to discharge their weapons.

On January 11th, an MPD officer fatally shot Donald Moore, an animal hoarder, at his Cordova home. The officer shot Moore after he pointed a gun at him and several Memphis Animal Services employees, who were there to serve an animal cruelty warrant.

A week later, on January 17th, officers shot and killed Steven Askew as he sat in his car in the parking lot of the Windsor Place Apartments at Knight Arnold and Mendenhall. The officers shot Askew after he allegedly pointed his handgun, which he was registered to own, at them. One of the officers involved with Askew’s shooting, Ned Aufdenkamp, has received several complaints throughout his tenure as a police officer and was submitted for the department’s Early Intervention Program in 2012.

On January 23rd, one week after Askew’s death, a MPD officer shot 18-year-old Bo Moore in the parking lot of the Quick & Easy convenience store on 931 S. Highland after he pointed a gun at the officer.

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Additionally, the media has focused in on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s (TBI) investigation into why MPD officer Terrance Shaw shot and killed 15-year-old Justin Thompson in September 2012. Shaw was off duty at the time of the shooting. The TBI investigated whether or not Shaw was trying to prevent a robbery during the shooting and if he had prior history with the victim. Shaw was cleared of facing criminal charges for the shooting on February 1st.

“There is insufficient evidence to create a reasonable chance for a conviction against Mr. Shaw, particularly when considered with the foreseeable defense that could be raised under the evidence,” District Attorney Amy Weirich said in a statement.

Prior to the death of Thompson, Shaw was involved in three shootings, which were all considered justifiable. On Valentine’s Day of 2009, Shaw shot and killed 25-year-old Courtney McGowan after he put his car in reverse and nearly ran Shaw and his partner over, according to the incident report. In November 2008 and June 2011, Shaw shot two different dogs that charged at him.

In a time where MPD officers are receiving more negative attention than positive, Suggs still wears her badge with pride. She said it’s not fair for all MPD officers to be viewed negatively when there’s only a handful who are going against what the department represents.

“We’re like miniature celebrities, because if anything goes on with this family, every news channel and newspaper wants to capture it,” Suggs said. “People forget that we are human. We are mothers. We are fathers. We are grandfathers, grandmothers, husbands and wives. We’re someone’s sister. We’re someone’s brother, and we have family at home that want to love us just as if we didn’t have blue on. Sometimes people forget that we do have love in our hearts, and if we didn’t, we wouldn’t risk our lives to help out the community.”

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Memphis City Council Discusses Funding for Blue Crush

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The Memphis Shelby Crime Commission recently sent a letter to City Hall asking Mayor A C Wharton’s administration to restore funding to the Memphis Police Department’s Blue Crush data-driven policing program. But a handful of Memphis City Council members say they were never made aware of any cuts to the MPD’s budget for Blue Crush.

This morning, the Memphis City Council called on MPD director Toney Armstrong to explain the current state of Blue Crush and whether or not funding cuts had affected use of the successful crime-fighting program.

Armstrong said Blue Crush has remained strong, despite previous comments Armstrong made to media outlets over the past few days. But Armstrong did admit that Blue Crush wasn’t being funded with traditional methods.

Armstrong said budget cuts have forced him trade comp time in lieu of payments for officers who work on Blue Crush details. The funds that could have been used to pay for Blue Crush had to be spent on necessary upgrades to equipment and fingerprinting technology and mandatory hepatitis shots for employees, Armstrong said.

“Yes, I have the funds in my budget [for Blue Crush] but there were other unfunded obligations we had to meet,” Armstrong told the council.

Memphis City Councilman Jim Strickland blamed the Wharton administration for denying the MPD a $2.3 million request for overtime pay for Blue Crush detail.

The police division had requested $245 million for its overall budget, which would have included the money for Blue Crush overtime pay. But the department was given $238 million instead. Strickland accused Wharton of “dismantling” Blue Crush, citing a document from the city’s Zero Based Budgeting Committee that specifically says $2.3 million was cut from “overtime for Blue Crush” for the 2013 budget. Also, a December 2012 email from MPD deputy police chief Jim Harvey specifically stated that the “Blue Crush overtime budget was cut from all precincts.”

Strickland’s data also clearly showed a reduction in Blue Crush details from 2010 to 2012. There were 824 details from July to December 2010, 257 details from the same months in 2011, and 336 details from July to December 2012.

But city CAO George Little, representing the Wharton administration, argued that Blue Crush is not a line item, implying that Armstrong makes the decisions on how to use his budget to fund that program. The council has requested more information from Armstrong, and they will discuss the matter again in a few weeks.

Blue Crush was launched in 2006 by former MPD director Larry Godwin. It utilizes crime data to determine hotspots where police are deployed.

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Teen Shooting Victim Knew His Killer

The teenager shot last Friday after a Central High School basketball game likely knew his shooter, said Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong during a press conference at the Memphis City Schools Board of Education on Tuesday afternoon.

The victim, 17-year-old Terrance Wilkins, was a student at Booker T. Washington High School. Wilkins was taken off of life support on Sunday.

His murder remains unsolved, and Armstrong urged anyone with information to contact 528-CASH.

Armstrong said the shooting stemmed from an altercation that occurred after the basketball game, off of school property on Bellevue and Linden. He said the suspect is an African American male between the ages of 17 and 19.

The meeting, which also involved Memphis City Schools’ officials, focused on the current protocols in place between MPD and MCS security.

“I want to use this time for us to review our policies and discuss whether or not there is a need for adjusting them. While I know and understand that the safety of school events is something they adopt as the responsibility of the school system’s security team, the city’s overall safety falls squarely in my domain,” said Armstrong in a statement released subsequent to the shooting.

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Q&A with Police Director Toney Armstrong

Here’s the long version of a Q&A with new Memphis Police director Toney Armstrong that ran in this week’s Memphis Flyer.

He may be best known for extracting a confession from convicted murderer Jessie Dotson in 2008’s Lester Street murder case on A&E’s The First 48. But new Memphis Police director Toney Armstrong has accomplished plenty more outside the reality show’s spotlight.

Toney Armstrong

  • Toney Armstrong

The Memphis native began his career in the U.S. Army, but he joined the Memphis Police Department (MPD) in 1989 a few years after his honorable discharge. Armstrong made his way through the ranks working undercover and leading in the robbery bureau, the organized crime unit, uniform patrol, missing persons, CrimeStoppers, and the homicide unit. On April 15th, Armstrong was sworn in to lead the department following former director Larry Godwin’s retirement.

The child of a single mother from inner city Memphis, Armstrong says he’ll make community policing his number one focus, allowing technology-driven policing to take on a supporting, rather than starring, role. — Bianca Phillips


You’ve stated that you’re a proponent of community policing, but how is that different from the way the MPD currently operates?
Right now, a lot of what the department does is technology-based. We rely on technology to tell us where to deploy personnel and to tell us what kind of crimes are going on in certain areas. But it’s my position that technology is a tool, and it shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all. There should be some human interaction.
I don’t feel that it puts us in the best light with communities that every time they see us in their community, we’re affecting an arrest.

Does this mean you’ll bring back the inactive COACT community policing units?
I’m in the process now of revamping the COACT units. We’ll probably rework them with a different mission. We do have COACT units, but honestly speaking, they have not been used in a capacity of being community-oriented.

What are some of your other top priorities?
The list is quite long, and I’ve only been here for a week. So obviously, I’ll be evaluating a lot of units and personnel. But as time goes on and those evaluations are complete, I’ll make changes as I see fit.

Will there be big changes?
I’ll be tweaking things in some areas and making big changes in others, but I can’t be specific right now. I can’t sit here and say we’re going to continue in the direction we’re going. I’m a different director than Director Godwin was, so the focus will always be to provide citizens with the best service we can. But how we do that is different from director to director. My focus will be on community policing.
There are some things that we’ve done that Director Godwin initiated that will continue, but I’m not fixing to sit here and say, this unit will be turned upside down and we’re turning the department upside down in reference to personnel. But I will honestly tell you there are some units that I’m looking at and some things that we do that I’m looking at changing.

You’re inheriting a department that’s managed to lower crime significantly. Does that give you more room to tweak and perfect the department’s structure?
The numbers say the crime rate is down, but we have to work on the perception. If you go into some neighborhoods, they’ll tell us we’re not realizing the reduction that we say. They don’t feel their relationship with the police department is that great. We’ve been successful in some areas and in others, we need to do a better job.

Godwin said one of his biggest regrets was not securing a separate police headquarters for the MPD. Will you try to accomplish that?
Right now, I don’t want to say it’s not a priority. Right now, my biggest priority is to maintain the officers that we have. It’s no secret that these are tough economic times. It’s no secret that we’re being asked to make cuts to our budgets. It’s so secret that over 90 percent of our budget is personnel. When you ask us to make cuts, that’s where those cuts come from.
My biggest challenge right now is to make sure we don’t lose any officers to those budget cuts, as well as losing key personnel. We have quite a bit of a support staff. A police headquarters would be great, but I can’t honestly say that I could envision the city earmarking millions of dollars for us to move in that direction when we’re talking about laying personnel off.

What are you most excited about?
I’m most excited about just getting out and meeting people, continuing in the path, and the momentum we’ve had as far as the reduction in crime. But I’m excited for these officers. For the most part, you’ve got a young guy like myself who comes in, and you have officers out there who can see that anything is possible. I’m excited for the community.
I come from a single parent home. My mother raised me in the inner city, and I’m excited to be a source of inspiration for those mothers out there who are having some of the same struggles that my mother had. They can see that there can be positive results if they do what they need to do, even though it’s a challenge everyday. But if you show that child the love they need and the discipline they need, there can be positive results.

What are you least excited about?
Budget cuts are challenging. If you talk to division directors all over the city, it’s tough when you have to make choices as far as people’s careers. I’m least excited about trying to get a budget in place during these tough economic times.