White Prosector Gets His Grand Jury to Decline Filing Charges Against Tennessee Cops Who Broke Into Black Man's Home and Violently Beat Him to Enforce Stop Sign Infraction and Obedience to Authority
/From [HERE] and [MORE] A grand jury has declined to indict police officers after an investigation by Tennessee’s state police agency into the violent arrest of a Black man for alleged traffic violations, a district attorney said Wednesday.
Members of a grand jury in Fayette County reviewed evidence Monday related to the July arrest of Brandon Calloway, but the panel “elected to take no action regarding the actions of the officers,” said Mark E. Davidson, the rural county's top prosecutor.
Calloway was stopped because he was a young Black man driving a nice car. He has said he would not have been stopped in the 2020 Chevrolet Camaro he was driving if he was white.
Calloway was arrested by Oakland police and charged with not stopping at a stop sign and fleeing from police.
Calloway eventually led the officers to his house, where he defiantly walked away while insisting that he did not run the stop sign.
After he went inside his house, officers kicked the door in and deployed tasers against him in an attempt to subdue him. When this failed to work, they then hit him repeatedly with batons.
He was then arrested and charged with evading arrest, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and speeding.
Attorney Andre Wharton, who is representing Calloway, said his client had to get multiple stitches in the wake of the beating, and that he now has limited visibility as a result of multiple blows to the face.
"Brandon was assaulted in a brutal fashion," he told WREG. "I describe it as animalistic. The pictures are horrific. He’s fortunate to be here to stand up and express through his presence here he wants to see some accountability."
Shelby County Commissioner and NAACP President Van Truner similarly said there was no justification for the level of force police used in making the arrest.
“Take our young black men into custody like you take other folks into custody, without one scratch, without harm and let them have their day in court,” he said.
According to a police affidavit, Calloway drove through a stop sign about 7:30 p.m. on July 16. He was then clocked driving 32 mph in a 20 mph zone before an officer attempted a traffic stop. Calloway continued driving until he reached a house, where he pulled into the driveway and ran inside, the affidavit said.
The affidavit says that later Calloway and others were outside speaking with the first officer when a second officer arrived. The officers said they needed to detain Calloway, and he ran back inside the house. The officers kicked down the front door and followed Calloway upstairs, where he ran into a room and locked the door. Officers then kicked down that door, used a stun gun on him and began to hit him with a baton, the affidavit said.
The confrontation happened in Oakland (STAY AWAY), a small town about 30 miles east of Memphis. Calloway, who runs a notary public business, said the beating left him with stitches in his head, speech problems and memory loss.
His lawyer, Andre C Wharton, said Wednesday that they are “extremely disappointed in this outcome.” Wharton said he hopes the U.S. Department of Justice will “fully review this matter for possible institution of criminal prosecution.”
“Meanwhile, we will not rest, nor sit still, but will continue to stand with Brandon in our quest for justice,” Wharton said.