CJ Davis says department will release ‘alarming’ video of officers, now charged with murder, beating black man who died days later
The chief of the Memphis police warned on Friday morning that the video of officers beating Tyre Nichols is “perhaps worse” than the infamous footage of Rodney King being attacked by police in Los Angeles more than 30 years ago.
The police department intends to release the video to the public on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Nichols, 29, died three days after a traffic stop turned into a fatal physical attack on 7 January
Five former Memphis police officers were charged Thursday with murder and other crimes in the killing of Tyre Nichols, a Black motorist in Memphis, Tennessee, who died three days after a 7 January traffic stop spiraled into a fatal physical attack, local jail records indicated.
Shelby county sheriff’s office online records showed that Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith were in custody. All five were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
Continue reading...People pay their respects at Memphis mansion that singer inherited from her father, rock legend Elvis Presley
More than a thousand mourners gathered in Graceland on a chilly, grey Sunday morning to pay their respects to singer Lisa Marie Presley at the Memphis, Tennessee, mansion she inherited from her father, rock legend Elvis Presley.
Presley died on 12 January at the age of 54. Earlier that day, she had been rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital after reportedly suffering cardiac arrest at her home. She is survived by her daughters, actress Riley Keough and 14-year-old twins Finley and Harper Lockwood.
I’ve had my life and enjoyed every second,
But as it is, another life beckoned.
It’s important to know that I have not gone,
And I hope that, on you all, my light has shone.
Report revealed multiple executions in recent years carried out without proper testing of lethal injection drugs
Two top Tennessee officials have been fired by the corrections department after an independent report revealed striking errors in the state’s lethal injection execution protocol.
According to official documents reviewed by the Tennessean newspaper, the deputy commissioner and general counsel, Debra Inglis, was fired, as well as inspector general Kelly Young, on 27 December.
Continue reading...Singer’s 'final resting place’ will be at Memphis mansion she inherited from her father, Elvis Presley, family says
Lisa Marie Presley will be laid to rest at Graceland, the Memphis mansion she inherited from her father, Elvis Presley, a family representative said.
Presley died on Thursday at the age of 54 after being taken to a Los Angeles hospital following cardiac arrest at her home, according to reports.
Continue reading...The expansion of family owned fast food company, founded in 1948, has been met with great enthusiasm
In-N-Out Burger, the famous California fast food chain, is expanding eastward as far as Tennessee, a move Tennessee’s governor called “life-changing”.
The family-owned burger company will open an “eastern territory office” in Tennessee, as well as several Nashville-area restaurants, by 2026, according to state officials, and In-N-Out’s owner said further eastward expansion was in the works.
Continue reading...Pair allegedly had list of 37 law enforcement agents they planned to assassinate
In the latest in an ever-growing list of criminal charges brought against January 6 rioters, a Tennessee man was arrested on Friday for allegedly plotting to kill the FBI agents who were investigating him.
With the House of Representatives committee on the insurrection preparing to deliver its final recommendations on Monday, 34-year old Edward Kelley of Maryville was charged with conspiracy, retaliating against a federal official and solicitation to commit a crime of violence, reported CNN.
Continue reading...The Grammy winner’s family said they would support state legislation allowing authorities to withhold certain records
The family of Naomi Judd is dropping a lawsuit that it filed in an attempt to block the public release of police-captured images showing the Grammy-winning country musician dying slowly after she shot herself earlier this year.
In a statement obtained by the Guardian, representatives of Judd’s family – which includes the actor Ashley Judd – said they are instead going to focus on supporting legislation in their home state of Tennessee which would clarify that such graphic materials from investigations into suicides and other non-criminal matters would be barred from being released as public records.
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Jonathan Skrmetti’s office looking into complaints after site crashed and resale tickets listed for up to $20,000
Tennessee’s attorney general said he was launching a consumer protection investigation into Ticketmaster after his office was inundated with complaints from Taylor Swift fans trying to get tickets to her 2023 concert tour.
Jonathan Skrmetti, the state’s attorney general, said at a press conference on Wednesday that while no direct allegations of misconduct have been made against Ticketmaster, his office will look into the complaints made about the company.
Continue reading...Tennessee woman was serving six-year sentence before prosecutors’ withholding of crucial document came to light
A Tennessee woman who had a six-year prison sentence for voter fraud overturned this year is suing state and local officials for damages, claiming she was wrongfully prosecuted and incarcerated.
Pamela Moses, a 44-year-old Memphis activist, was sentenced to six years in prison in January after prosecutors said she tried to register to vote knowing she was ineligible because of a prior felony conviction. She was convicted even though two government officials, including a probation officer who conceded he made an error, signed off on a state form affirming her eligibility. The case prompted national outrage.
Continue reading...Police arrest 19-year-old suspect in connection with multiple shootings after warning residents to take shelter
Tennessee law enforcement officials said a suspect had been arrested after a series of shootings in Memphis on Wednesday night.
Police had earlier warned residents to shelter in place as a man drove around the city shooting at people. Police said he was recording his actions on Facebook.
Continue reading...Eliza Fletcher is still missing after she was forced into a vehicle while jogging near University of Memphis campus, police say
Police in Tennessee said on Sunday an arrest had been made in connection with the abduction of a jogger on Friday.
Memphis police said Cleotha Abston, 38, had been charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence in the disappearance of Eliza Fletcher.
Continue reading...Cheese-based sauce covers half of a busy road in Tennessee, days after a truck spilled 150,000 tomatoes on California interstate
Just a day after a truck spilled a gigantic load of tomatoes over a highway in California, another bizarre food spill unfolded in Tennessee where an enormous slick of creamy Alfredo pasta sauce was accidentally deposited all over a busy road.
The accident occurred when a 18-wheeler truck carrying hundreds of bottles of the cheese-based sauce crashed and spilled them all over I-55, leading to one half of the road being covered in what looked from a distance like snow – but was in fact the popular pasta-enhancing condiment.
Continue reading...Local district attorney’s office calls for investigation following incident involving police officer Evan Driskill and Delane Gordon
A Tennessee police officer who used his stun gun on a DoorDash driver wrote an arrest report saying the man had become argumentative while denying he was speeding, refused to hand over identifying information, demanded to see a supervisor and stayed in his car when ordered to get out.
The driver – who faces charges of speeding, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct based on the officer’s sworn affidavit – pressed record on his phone after he was pulled over. That recording, made public by the driver’s attorney, tells a different story.
Continue reading...Powerful late-winter storm comes with predicted snowfall up to about 13in and potential to cause travel issues and outages
A powerful late-winter storm combining rivers of moisture and frigid temperatures – a phenomenon known to some as a “bomb cyclone” – was expected to dump snow from the US deep south all the way to the Canadian border over the weekend, forecasters said.
With forecast snowfall ranging from about 4in in northern Alabama and Mississippi to about 13in in northern Maine, forecasters expected travel problems and power outages across much of the eastern US.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Continue reading...Sheriff’s deputies destroyed the animal after finding ‘two unconscious victims’ and ‘a camel still on the loose
A camel killed two men after escaping a petting zoo in Tennessee, a county sheriff said.
Officials from the Obion county sheriff’s office said the fatal incident unfolded around 5.44pm on Thursday, when they “received a call of a loose camel near Shirley Farms on South Bluff Road in Obion … attacking people”.
Continue reading...The oft-photographed country music institution, which has been in Nashville since 1947, will close in the spring
The downtown Nashville, Tennessee, record store that was opened by Opry legend Ernest Tubb in 1947 and has been a landmark in country music for decades will close as the building is being put up for sale.
The owners of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop said in a statement on Friday they were heartbroken that the store, which has been in its current location on Broadway since 1951, will close in the spring. The building and store is owned by the Honky Tonk Circus, LLC, and the David McCormick Company, Inc.
Continue reading...Jordan Mollenhour is backed by Tennessee’s Republican governor despite his company having supplied ammo to mass shooters
The owner of a US company that has sold ammunition online to numerous mass shooters has prompted outcry as he pursues a permanent position on Tennessee’s education board.
Jordan Mollenhour, who was backed by the state’s Republican governor, was confirmed by the state’s Republican-led senate on Thursday morning by 26-6. He is the owner of Lucky Gunners, an online Knoxville-based ammunition company that he co-founded in 2009.
Continue reading...Majority of outages occur in Tennessee, after storm that spanned 2,000 miles dumped up to 17in of snow
Over 150,000 homes across the US are without power after a winter storm tore through the country and was followed by freezing temperatures that created icy conditions.
By Saturday, over 100,000 homes had their power restored after outages on Friday, though some states were still experiencing service interruptions. The bulk of the outages took place in Tennessee, where over 93,000 homes were experiencing outages, according to PowerOutage.us. Another 43,000 homes in New York and 30,000 in Ohio were without power.
Continue reading...Strike, which began in October, expected to continue as workers seek significant raises, saying they work 80-hour weeks
Kellogg has said it is permanently replacing 1,400 workers who have been on strike since October, a decision that comes as the majority of its cereal plant workforce rejected a deal that would have provided 3% raises.
The Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union said an overwhelming majority of workers had voted down the five-year offer.
Continue reading...