Join MSPJC & Memphis United, Thursday, October 12, 3:30PM, Civic Center Plaza, 125 N Main, as we hold a press conference in support of a man who has exhausted every process available to him in his fight for justice and peace. On October 31st, 2014, Reginald Johnson’s son, Samuel Johnson, was tragically killed. Mr. Johnson cooperated with the investigation, providing video footage from security cameras on his house, but this cooperation wasn’t reciprocated when Mr. Johnson sought answers from MPD. His frustrations led him to speak to the media about MPD’s lack of action on his son’s case.
On February 8, 2016, Mr. Johnson called police when a neighbor showed up on his front door, bleeding, having been shot. Reginald called police, but when they arrived, they ignored the bleeding man, entered his home, assaulted, pepper sprayed, and arrested him. Charges were dropped, a complaint with internal affairs was filed but not sustained, even though footage from security cameras around Reginald’s home corroborated his claims and contradicted officers’ accounts. He appealed to the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board, who last November, sustained his complaint, sending recommendations for review to Director Michael Rallings. Recommendations that were ignored.
Reginald Johnson has experienced regular retaliation from MPD since filing his complaint with CLERB, which was sustained in November of 2016. We have learned that one of the officers named in Mr. Johnson’s complaint accused Mr. Johnson of threatening his life. This baseless accusation has led to Mr. Johnson’s home being placed on a “hazard list” which he has tried in vain to be removed from for months, despite numerous conversations with Deputy Director Mike Shearin, Deputy Director Mike Ryall, Director Rallings, and Mayor Jim Strickland. We believe in due process, the right to face your accuser, and that this “hazard list” is a form of extrajudicial retaliation for trying to hold police accountable.
“Mr. Johnson is not a threat or a hazard. He is a positive, contributing member of our community, a man that hosts annual anti-violence rallies in honor of his slain son. He’s been blacklisted based purely on an unfounded accusation of one officer who didn’t want to be held accountable. If Reginald Johnson, who has exhausted all available paths of recourse available to him (going as far as to meet with the mayor and police director). If he has no hope for justice, or at least some peace….none of us do, and that’s a shame,” said Paul Garner, Organizing Director for Mid-South Peace & Justice Center.
Mid-South Peace & Justice Center is calling on MPD to do the right thing and immediately release an official written memo stating that Reginald Johnson’s name and home address be removed from any “hazard list.”
In addition, if there is a policy outlining the process and criteria for MPD’s so-called hazard list, it should be made available to the public so that those accused be made aware as to the process for removal from such a list. We demand the release of any and all such policies immediately.
For more info, contact Organizing Director, Paul Garner, paul@midsouthpeace.org or (901)725.4990.
Check out the facebook event page here.
