Pastors seek meeting with governor to address police brutality controversies – Chattanooga Times Free Press

Pastors seek meeting with governor to address police brutality controversies  Chattanooga Times Free Press

NASHVILLE — A group of Hamilton County pastors wants Gov. Bill Lee to meet with them and find ways to “bring about changes” that will address alleged law …

Document: Black ministers’ letter to Gov. Bill Lee

In their Aug. 12 letter to the governor, the black ministers state “we realize that there are good law enforcement officers, but there are too many who make their own laws and execute justice through usurping the power of the State laws.”

NASHVILLE — A group of Hamilton County pastors wants Gov. Bill Lee to meet with them and find ways to “bring about changes” that will address alleged law enforcement brutality.

In their Aug. 12 letter to the governor, the black ministers state: “We realize that there are good law enforcement officers, but there are too many who make their own laws and execute justice through usurping the power of the State laws.”

The letter comes amid their calls for Sheriff Jim Hammond and two white deputies to resign over dashcam footage that captured the roadside arrest and apparent body cavity search of a 41-year-old black man,

“It is our hope that together we can bring about changes that will be beneficial to the citizens and the law enforcement officers who are assigned to protect,” the letter states. It also notes that during Lee’s successful 2018 campaign, he met with a group of local black ministers and expressed that “faith in Christ guides you in all of your principle development.

“It is because of this declaration that we are calling upon you at this critical hour,” the letter states.

It was signed by Timothy Careathers, senior pastor and teacher of Westside Missionary Baptist Church, who describes himself as a representative of the “consortium” of ministers.

Careathers said last week he had yet to hear back from the Lee administration.

“I’m hopeful that he will,” he said. ” Until he says ‘no,’ I’m prayerful and hopeful that he will take that invitation.”

But Lee’s press secretary, Laine Arnold, later said that “with review of the independent investigation still ongoing, we feel it would be inappropriate to weigh in at this time.”

Earlier in the week, state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, said he was hoping Lee’s office would respond.

“It’s a very meaningful issue and concern,” said Hakeem, a former State Parole Board member and Chattanooga City Council member. “That’s why I would hope they’d follow up on that.”

The latest local case triggering an uproar was the July 10 arrest of James Myron Mitchell, a 41-year-old black man.

In the dash camera video, Deputies Daniel Wilkey and Bobby Brewer are seen kicking, punching and stripping the pants off Mitchell and allegedly performing a body-cavity search on the handcuffed-Mitchell, who was a passenger in a vehicle stopped in Soddy-Daisy.

After reviewing the footage, Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston said he was “somewhat disturbed at what I saw” and asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into Mitchell’s treatment.

Last week, the TBI turned its findings over to the district attorney’s office for review. Pinkston said Tuesday that his office is “beginning a detailed review of the independent investigative factual findings and how these findings relate to current state law defining criminal behavior.”

Following the review, the DA’s office will either present the case to a grand jury for potential indictment of the two involved deputies, or it could be closed without charges. If presented to a grand jury, the jury could also decline to indict if it feels there is insufficient evidence.

Mitchell’s attorney, Robin Flores, has said medical records show Mitchell suffered anal fissures in the encounter. Flores has also said that under state law and the sheriff’s office own policy, only a physician or nurse can conduct a body-cavity search and only after getting either a search warrant or written consent, neither of which the deputies had.

The sheriff’s office policy states that both strip searches and body-cavity searches must be conducted in a “controlled and private environment,” such as a jail cell or detention area. Additionally, a strip search “only permits a visual inspection of the genitals and does not permit the search or probing of these cavities,” the policy reads.

As for Mitchell, deputies said they found small amounts of marijuana and crack cocaine in his possession. But Pinkston’s office has dropped all of his charges stemming from the arrest, a not uncommon action in an alleged brutality case. Flores has said he and his client hope “the state grand jury will indict on what clearly meets the statutory requirements of rape.”

Hammond has said in response to calls he resign that he won’t step down. But the 75-year-old has announced that he won’t run for re-election in 2022. He also said he will not fire the deputies before following the proper legal process.

Efforts to contact him by telephone were unsuccessful.

In response to prior local cases involving alleged local police brutality, Hakeem unsuccessfully pressed a bill this year to require more diversity training for for new and current law enforcement officers. But it failed to get traction in a Republican-led subcommittee. Members said they accepted law enforcement authorities’ arguments that current state training in areas ranging from diversity to de-escalation in confrontational situations is more than adequate.

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.