It’s been virtually a yr since Memphis police lied on their police report, accusing a Black man named Mario Shaw of assaulting them when surveillance video clearly exhibits them attacking him by punching, kicking, tasering and biting him over a dispute with a neighbor about canine poop.
However as normal, the cops had been cleared of any wrongdoing despite the fact that they may have been charged with a felony for mendacity of their report, in accordance with a former cop, prosecutor and protection lawyer who mentioned the case on a video on his YouTube channel posted beneath.
Nonetheless, the Ring video from Shaw’s residence was sufficient for a choose to dismiss all expenses towards Shaw, together with assault on a primary responder, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and public intoxication.
Now the 49-year-old man is making ready to file a lawsuit towards the Memphis Police Division, in accordance with ABC24 Memphis, which obtained the video from Shaw’s residence however was denied physique digicam footage from Memphis police who declare the incident remains to be beneath investigation by inside affairs.
“It destroyed my belief within the Memphis Police Division and ruined my psychological [health],” Shaw advised ABC24. “Once I’m out driving round, I’m trying round worrying a few cop focusing on me once more.”
Memphis police tried to justify the actions of Memphis cops Taiyuan Brooks and Kevin Shannon to native media by saying Shaw was “probably armed” and that they used “less-lethal strategies to soundly take the suspect into custody.”
However the video makes one surprise why they even needed to arrest him within the first place, since all Shaw was holding was a cellphone in his hand, asking for a police supervisor, telling the officers on the scene to get off his property.
Neighborly Dispute
The incident came about on July 25, 2024, proper earlier than midnight, after Shaw acquired into an argument with a neighbor relating to the neighbor’s canine defecating in his yard, the continuation of a long-running dispute between the 2 neighbors about their canines.
The neighbor referred to as police, accusing Shaw of being drunk and threatening him with a gun, native media reported.
When Memphis police arrived, Shaw stated he stepped out of his residence to speak to them to provide his facet of the story, however he observed they started getting aggressive with him.
“I got here out and talked to one of many officers and defined to him what was occurring, I observed that the officers appeared to be getting type of aggressive,” Shaw advised ABC24.
Shaw stated he walked again into his residence to name police and request a supervisor as a result of the cops on the scene had been scaring him. He then stepped out of his residence with the cellphone in his hand, which is the place the Ring footage posted by ABC24 begins.
The video exhibits Shaw standing on his entrance porch holding a cellphone to his ear as Officer Brooks stands on the finish of the walkway to his entrance door, close to the sidewalk at the least 40 ft away.
“Get out from my yard!” Shaw tells the cop earlier than turning again round to stroll again inside his residence.
That was when Brooks runs up the walkway, grabs him and throws him on the bottom, punching him a number of instances behind the top.
Officer Shannon then runs up and begins tasering Shaw earlier than kicking him a number of instances. One of many cops additionally bit him twice, leaving him with a visual chew mark on his physique.
Shaw stated he spent a few week in jail earlier than he was launched.
Police Lies
The cops wrote of their report that Shaw was the aggressor they usually had been the victims.
“The suspect began to bodily swing his fist at Officer Brooks putting him within the face,” the cops wrote of their report obtained by ABC24.
“The suspect struck each Officer Shannon and Brooks, the suspect Mario Shaw began to then swing at each officers and in addition knocked their glasses off.”
The report makes no point out of the cops punching and kicking Shaw, but it surely does say they felt threatened as a result of he was “probably armed,” despite the fact that they discovered no gun on him.
Shaw advised native media that when he was about to stroll again inside, the cop ran up and stated one thing like, “give me your hand.”
“So I put my arm out and I’m assuming he’s going to place handcuffs on me, however he determined to start out biting me,” Shaw advised native media. “The assault simply went on from there.”
Memphis police supplied ABC24 with the next assertion:
Based on reviews, the officers employed hard-hand methods and less-lethal strategies to soundly take the suspect into custody. The officers had been initially dispatched in response to a name from the sufferer, who reported that the suspect had threatened their life and was in possession of a firearm.
After an intensive overview of the incident, it was decided that no disciplinary motion was warranted. The Memphis Police Division stays dedicated to transparency and accountability.
Nonetheless, ABC24 states that they’ve been requesting physique digicam footage since January and have but to obtain any.
Moreover, the truth that the cop ran as much as Shaw to assault him as he was strolling again into his residence utilizing the excuse that Shaw was probably armed was in full distinction to officer security coaching, in accordance with lawyer James White, who posts about police interactions on his YouTube channel, Southern Drawl Legislation.
“No police officer observing officer security would ever rush in direction of an individual they thought was armed,” he stated. “An objectively affordable police officer would have taken cowl, in all probability drawn both a firearm or a taser, and began giving verbal instructions to Mr. Shaw.”
“The best way that they acted is totally inconsistent with what you’d do in the event you had been doing what they stated they had been doing within the report so it’s very clearly a false report, which is definitely a C felony beneath Tennessee regulation.”
