Nashville Community Oversight Board Seeks to Suspend MNPD Officer

 

Members of Nashville’s Community Oversight Board (COB) recommended unanimously this week that the Metro Nashville Police Department suspend a commander for reportedly executing a search warrant on the wrong family.

This, according to Main Street Nashville, which said COB members recommended a 10-day suspension.

“The search warrant concerned a 16-year-old who was under investigation for property crimes. He had moved out of a public housing apartment several months before the execution of the search warrant, and a new family had moved in, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department. Officer Michael Richardson got the address information from a database that had not been updated since 2018. He also did not take any extra steps to verify that the person police were seeking actually lived at that address, according to MNPD,” according to the website.

“Police went to execute the warrant at about 6 a.m. Aug. 18. They knocked but waited only six seconds before prying open the screen door and using a battering ram to breach the front door. A woman could be heard from inside the home asking police to wait. A 15-year-old and a 3-year-old were also in the home at the time. No one was hurt, Metro Police Chief John Drake said in a news conference after the operation.”

Drake, Main Street Nashville reported, asked that the Office of Professional Accountability investigate.

COB members last month considered a complaint that an alleged drug dealer filed against four Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) detectives.

The complainant, a female, alleged improper search and seizure. She also said the four detectives threatened her with eviction if she did not consent to the search.

This, after an anonymous person complained to police that the woman was selling drugs out of her home. Detectives at the scene said they detected an odor of marijuana emanating from inside.

COB Executive Director Jill Fitcheard told COB members that she reviewed the investigative file, the woman’s complaint, and a recorded interview involving all on-scene participants. Fitcheard said the preponderance of the evidence did not support the woman’s allegations against the four detectives.

Nashville voters approved a civilian oversight board over police in 2018.

Nashville Fraternal Order of Police members have long said they have serious constitutional concerns about the board. FOP members have even said the board is “set up for some means of retaliation and retribution for a problem that doesn’t exist.”

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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].

 

 

 

 

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2 Thoughts to “Nashville Community Oversight Board Seeks to Suspend MNPD Officer”

  1. 83ragtop50

    So the COB fanatics are at it again. Is anyone surprised by these self righteous morons? The idiotic citizens of Nashville who voted for this monstrosity are going to be reaping the rewards of their stupidity for many years to come.

  2. rick

    COB and its board members are THE PROBLEM !!!

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