police shootings

15 Apr, 2021

Body cam footage from officer-involved shooting inside a Knoxville school may be confidential for a long while

By |2021-04-15T16:35:22-05:00April 15, 2021|Categories: crime records|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Police body camera footage from a shooting that left a 17-year-old dead inside a Knox County high school is likely to be kept confidential for a while, and it's possible some of it may be confidential forever based on state laws protecting juveniles and mandating confidentiality of some types of body camera footage. Anthony J. Thompson Jr., 17, was killed in the shooting. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has said that police were responding to reports of a student in the school possibly armed with a gun. A school resource officer was shot and injured, but it was from a bullet from a police weapon, the TBI has said. Knoxville [...]

21 Apr, 2017

Senate approves bill to open TBI records in police-involved shootings

By |2017-04-21T10:05:16-05:00April 21, 2017|Categories: crime records|Tags: , , , |1 Comment

The Senate this week voted 30-0 to make TBI investigative records in police-involved shootings open to the public after the "prosecutorial function" is finished. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has an exemption in the Tennessee Public Records Act that allows it keep its records confidential even after the case is over, but this legislation would create an exception for police-involved shootings. “This is extremely important legislation for Tennessee," said state Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, who signed on to the bill as a co-sponsor and who carried similar legislation last year. (see video) "We need to make this information public to exonerate our law enforcement officers who are at times wrongfully accused [...]

21 Mar, 2017

Bill to bring transparency to TBI investigations of police shootings advances

By |2017-03-22T07:53:04-05:00March 21, 2017|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

A bill that would make public the investigative record of TBI investigations of police shootings after the case is over advanced in a House subcommittee today. The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted to move the bill to the full committee. State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, is sponsoring the bill, H.B. 277, in the House, and state Sen. Lee Harris, D-Memphis, is the sponsor in the Senate. (S.B. 1039) State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis Currently, some district attorneys in the state say they cannot release the investigative record in a police shooting case, even after the case is over, because of an exemption to the Tennessee Public Records Act [...]

30 Sep, 2016

Learning from Memphis: Media coverage of police shootings

By |2019-09-11T18:57:16-05:00September 30, 2016|Categories: crime records, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

In Memphis this week, about 80 news reporters, activists, attorneys and college students came together to examine how media can, should and does cover police shootings. The centerpiece was the case of 19-year-old Darrius Stewart, who was shot and killed last year by Memphis police officer Connor Schilling after a traffic stop, sparking protests and concerns from the African-American community. The daylong workshop, developed by the Memphis Bar Association, comes at a time of national attention on police shootings, driven often by dramatic video recorded by bystanders and family members. The video and circumstances around the shootings have raised questions about the use of lethal force and racial bias. (See: [...]

7 Sep, 2016

Memphis Bar Association to host deep dive into Darrius Stewart police shooting case

By |2017-03-21T16:58:45-05:00September 7, 2016|Categories: crime records, Open Courts, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

The Memphis Bar Association is hosting "Covering Police-Involved Shootings: A Deep Dive into the Darrius Stewart Case" on Sept. 28 as part of a daylong program bringing together journalists, lawyers and policymakers. Participants will have an opportunity to hear and interact with lawyers, judges, prosecutors and reporters who were involved in the Stewart case or covered it. Roy L. Austin Jr. Roy Austin Jr., deputy assistant to President Obama and Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, Justice, and Opportunity, will be the keynote speaker at lunch and share a national and policy perspective on police shootings. Later in the day, veteran reporters and lawyers will [...]

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