Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss a letter he sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) regarding its response to a group of pro-Palestine protesters that blocked traffic in both directions on I-40 in Memphis over the weekend.
On Saturday, a group of pro-Palestine protesters commandeered the Mississippi River Bridge on I-40 in Memphis, shutting down traffic in both directions for nearly two hours and leaving motorists with no way to cross the Mississippi River as the I-55 river bridge was under construction.
Taylor (pictured above), noting how the group was allowed to leave with no arrests made, said he sent a letter to TBI requesting that the agency investigate the incident and arrest the individuals responsible for organizing the protest.
“The reason this is important is a couple of reasons,” Taylor explained. “One, most importantly, there are people in eastern Arkansas who depend on our Memphis hospitals for their health care needs. And there were people anecdotally, who were trying to get to the hospital. One in particular was trying to get his wife to the VA hospital and instead had to go all the way to Jonesboro, Arkansas to the emergency room because they couldn’t get across the bridge,”
“And then secondly, and equally as important, is this bridge has become the target of these types of protests and it will remain a target for these types of illegal protests as long as there are no consequences,” Taylor added. “So the next group that wants to virtue signal some issue, why the hell not go take the Mississippi River Bridge? Nothing’s going to happen to you other than the police will show up and ask you, “pretty please with a cherry on top, would you please get off the bridge so cars can get across?” And until there are serious consequences, this type of behavior will continue. That’s why I asked the TBI to investigate – to see if we can’t have these people held accountable for their illegal protests.”
Taylor went on to describe the protesters as individuals “who don’t know their wrath from a hole in the ground.”
“It shows how misguided and misinformed they are. To think that closing a river bridge in Memphis, Tennessee somehow is going to bring about a ceasefire in the Middle East goes to show you exactly what kind of dumbasses we’re dealing with,” Taylor added.
Taylor said he hopes that TBI refers its findings of the requested investigation into the protest to the appropriate prosecuting authorities so that the individuals responsible can be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Regular people don’t understand how six people in Mount Juliet, Tennessee that blocked an abortion clinic could be convicted and potentially sentenced to 10 years in prison but a few dozen people can block the Mississippi River bridge that impacts thousands of people and get by without arrest. It’s why regular people no longer trust government to equally enforce the law,” Taylor added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Brent Taylor” by Brent Taylor. Background Photo “Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Building” by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
