Several council members in Tennessee have called for the resignation of a police chief after warrants were issued for two community activists and then later rescinded.
Metro Council member Freddie O’Connell last week urged Nashville Mayor John Cooper to request the resignation of Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson, news outlets reported.
O’Connell tweeted, “We have reached the point of absurdity,” referencing warrants issued for Nashville activists Justin Jones and Jeneisha Harris on riot charges.
We have reached the point of absurdity. I spoke to @JohnCooper4Nash this afternoon and encouraged him to request the resignation of Chief Anderson. https://t.co/SpIALxnYcV
— Freddie #StayHome O'Connell (@freddieoconnell) June 4, 2020
Metro police announced the arrest warrants for Jones and Harris on Thursday, stating the pair were connected to Saturday’s vandalism of a police cruiser. Police said the activists walked on the car, damaging the vehicle.
Harris tweeted that she would turn herself in and said, “If something happens to me, I did not kill myself.” Jones also took to Twitter, stating the warrants were “false” and “politically motivated.”
Turning myself in now…
If something happens to me, I did not kill myself.
— Jeneisha Harris (@JeneishaCHarris) June 4, 2020
Three hours after the announcement, Metro police recalled the warrants after reviewing “additional information” received by the department and District Attorney General Glenn Funk.
The Tennessee Star asked Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron if Cooper intervened in the matter.
“Absolutely not,” Aaron said.
Council member Dave Rosenberg and at-large council member Bob Mendes have also called for Anderson’s resignation.
O’Connell said he was aware of the rescinded warrants.
“I think they realized that perhaps they had errored,” O’Connell said.
It’s unclear whether Jones or Harris will still be charged with rioting crimes.
Jones, as The Star reported, has had prior run-ins with law enforcement, one of which was for an alleged assault of then-Speaker of the House Glen Casada. And another for allegedly disrupting a Marsha Blackburn rally in Nashville in 2018 that featured U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Also, as reported, Jones asked Cooper during Saturday’s rally whether he would commit to demilitarize and defund the city’s police department?
According to Jones’ account that day, Cooper would not agree to Jones’ demands.
Jones later told the crowd of thousands that “you don’t just vote out your oppressor. You overthrow them.”
As The Tennessee Star reported last year, Anderson had a lot of friction with members of the Community Oversight Board after he would not meet with them.
As The Star reported, Nashville voters approved a civilian oversight board over police in 2018.
City officials created the board.
As reported, 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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Tennessee Star investigative journalist Chris Butler contributed to this report by The Associated Press. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
…you took an Uber to the riots with your date.
…your hipster 12th Av S. girlfriend has ‘Defund The Police ‘ tattooed on her butt.
…you thought inciting a riot will look good on your application to Vanderbilt.
If there is no rule of law, if there is no law enforcement, then there is chaos. These Sorosites want civil war.
Obviously Justin Jones hasn’t learned about humility or turning the other cheek at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Wonder what they are teaching him?
Vanderbilt only teaches leftwing socialistic material. It went down the tubes years ago. Sort of the trailblazer for Nashville as a whole.
This man should resign a well as the police department. Private security, properly trained in conflict mitigation and the use of non violent arrest methods is the new norm and soon to be the future.
“Private security” works for me. Not that I can afford to pay for it, but the exercise of my right according to Article I, Section 26 of the Tennessee Constitution Declaration of Rights and the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights. I’m not so sure about “non violent arrest methods”; what with the looters, the arsonists, the criminal assaults and murderers we’ve seen in our streets recently? Somehow, I don’t think such perps would comply peacefully to arrest and those who may later show up at the dwellings of the rst of us.
BS – From under what rock did you crawl? Arrest methods are dictated by the conduct of the perpetrator. This case in Minneapolis is a case of one bad cop.
And if you were so incensed by this one tragic homicide, name for me just one of the dozens of young Black people killed over the last two weeks by other young Black citizens in Chicago alone! If we follow what you propose, Nashville will turn into the south side of Chicago. Is that what you want?
Some people couldnt be any more stupid if they worked at it. I smell a troll or an idiot, either way, get a job and a life. Thanks for your service officers, and sorry you have to deal with morons.
You have to be on drugs if you think criminals are just going to stop committing violent crimes. This latest liberal demand just goes to show how foolish you people are. I can just see it now as y’all are about to be robbed, sexually assaulted, beaten to death, or shot…..”why are you doing this, I helped abolish the police department?” I sure am glad the “assault weapons” ban ended. At least those of us who are knowledgeable about and carry firearms regularly will not becomes helpless victims. I hope you enjoy the rest of your life living in fear.
Sounds like this O’Connell is a real “rocket scientist”! IF he’s stating that the warrants were frivolous, why isn’t he asking for Funk’s resignation? Warrants don’t get generated by the police. Perhaps he needs to take a civic class,
OR, is it that he’s really stating that Jones and Harris should be locked up? Hmmm, interesting thought.
Is this what happens when thousands of years of human intellectual development leads to communications that fit into 140 characters, or, what happens when you allow the inmates to run the asylum? In either case, it don’t look good for Nashville!
How about O’Connell, Mendes & Rosenberg get a life. The Police corrected an error and now you want the Chief to resign. How absurd! You would rather they follow thru even knowing it was wrong? Really?
Chief Anderson, STAND YOUR GROUND.
This should say three liberal council members want him to resign. And Freddie, please stay at home.
How long until the Liberal fools start demanding the de-funding of the metro PD? I want give a big thank you to all the law enforcement officers in Tennessee.
The Council members , especially Freddie McDonnel, ( who as a grown up is called Freddie, sounds like grammar school) should resign, there are some real nut jobs on the Metro Council. If Justin Jones is in the room he should be arrested. The little twerp. Support the police!!!