An investigation has been launched following an incident in Memphis where an MPD officer was struck by a vehicle and the driver subsequently shot by police, as confirmed by the Memphis Police Department. The encounter occurred late Friday night near Park Avenue and Grand Street when officers on foot approached a Nissan Armada they deemed suspicious; the vehicle reportedly accelerated and hit one officer, leading another to discharge their weapon at the driver, according to Action News 5.
The struck officer was taken to Regional One Health in non-critical condition, while the driver, who was critically wounded, was transported to the hospital, and although it appeared intentional The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has now stepped in to conduct a thorough review of the events, including the use of lethal force by the officers on scene. This was outlined in a statement released to FOX13 Memphis, where the TBI clarified its role as fact-finders, responsible for piecing together the sequence of events and not determining the justification of the officers' actions, which is left to the District Attorney General.
However, a conflicting narrative has emerged from eyewitnesses, according to a report from WREG; one witness, referred to only as Bo, contradicted the official account, claiming "That ain’t what happened," he said, "There was no officer standing in front of the truck or none of that." Bo described the scene as chaotic, with people trying to leave from a birthday celebration in front of a liquor store when the police arrived and engaged with the crowd. Bo further noted that the officer known to the community as "Cupcake," seemed especially distressed following the shooting.
The TBI now faces the task of untangling these disparate accounts to arrive at a definitive understanding of the shoot incident's circumstances, whilst the local community of Orange Mound grapples with the implications, as noted in Bo's statement to WREG, "Orange Mound is not a bad community. There’s crime going on all over the neighborhood."
