Civil rights attorney Ben Crump reportedly urged Memphis Mayor Paul Young to embrace the police reforms passed through city ordinances following the death of Tyre Nichols last year, even after former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland claimed the ordinances were illegal.
Crump, who represents family members of Nichols, said in a statement issued on the anniversary of Nichols’ death that the family and legal team “are deeply disturbed by the recent revelation by former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland that he actively avoided signing and enforcing the Driving Equality Act in honor of Tyre Nichols that the Memphis City Council passed in Spring 2023.”
The “Driving Equality Act in Honor of Tyre Nichols” was approved by the Memphis City Council as part of a package of ordinances named in Nichols’ honor, and would prohibit police from pulling over drivers for minor infractions, including loose bumpers and broken taillights.
Crump referenced a recently published letter by Strickland to the Memphis City Council and Young, in which Strickland explained why he declined to sign the ordinances passed following Nichols’ death.
Strickland explained his stance that the Memphis City Council attempted to circumvent the power delegated to the Memphis Mayor by the city’s charter, effectively making the ordinances illegal. “I did not veto the ordinances because a veto would have been futile given the Charter provision allowing a simple majority vote of the Council to override a mayor’s veto,” he first acknowledged.
He wrote that the ordinances, “regardless of their statutory goals, illegally interfere with the authority given to the Mayor under the Charter,” and warned that the action proposed by the ordinances “is not within the legislative authority,” and confirmed his administration did not operate “in accordance with the ordinance.”
The Memphis City Council passed six ordinances in 2023 which attempted to modify policy of the Memphis Police Department (MPD) and to empower the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) to investigate use-of-force complaints.
Crump’s statement, made with attorney Antonio Romanucci, connected Nichols’ death to the death of George Floyd, and said the former may still be alive had the ordinances been passed sooner.
“We will hold Mayor Paul Young accountable to his pledge to enact these reforms,” Crump and Romanucci said. They asserted that changes to “police policies and practices” contained within the ordinances “are essential to establishing trust within communities and police.”
Noting their high-profile work on police reform since the death of George Floyd, the attorneys claimed, “Had changes to law enforcement policies been enacted in 2020, we strongly believe Tyre Nichols would be alive today.”
The call for Young to embrace the police reform ordinances comes after Memphis had the highest homicide rate in the United States in 2023, surpassing cities with well-known problems with violence, including Chicago and Detroit.
Before his inauguration, following the death of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital employee Alexander Bulakhov, Young promised to launch “a hard-hitting crime plan” within his first 100 days in office. He promised “a multi-pronged, hard-hitting, and focused effort” to “combat this lawlessness.”
Memphis recorded its first murder of 2024 on January 1, as Young was slated to be inaugurated.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ben Crump” by Lorie Shaull. CC BY-SA 2.0.
this guy must have a jet setting at all major airports. any time there is a tragedy as this was, he is on the scene in 3 hours.
I’m so sick of Race Baiting Bullies. Crump, like AL Sharpton, are like ambulance chasers. Wherever they can make a buck. They don’t care who they hurt in the process. It looks like Crump is Sharpton’s intern, learning the business of grifting. He is the expert grifter. I remember when Crump “stepped up” to represent Trayvon Martins’ family in FL during Obamas reign as POTUS, when Obama famously told the world ” If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon”. This was Obama trying to insert influence on potential jurors & judges, very inappropriate & unethical, typical of Democrats. Thankfully, Obamas Interference had no effect on the “Stand your Ground” case. Trayvon Martin was a thug who couldnt be controlled by his parents.
Same with Claudine Gay. Im not going to address her as Dr (PhD)Claudine Gay, bc she doesn’t deserve the title any more than men who compete in Women’s sports should be awarded a “winner” medal (another Marxist maneuver.) Like serial plaigerist Joe Biden, cheating is how they succeed. Another historical Institution being destroyed by the Marxists. What a shame. It makes me wonder “Does Barrack Hussein Obama sit on the Harvard Board?” Or what trick or influence did he use to convince Harvard Board members to at least keep Ms Gay employed? Is it reparations? I learned that he lobbied the Board pretty heftiliy to keep Claudine in the president position. Of course, no one has seen Barrack’s Harvard records, even though he was not Constitutionally eligible to be a candidate for POTUS in 2008. Barracks Marxist buddies in the corrupt media smashed the fact that he was not eligible, which demonstrates how corrupt (or maybe ignorant) the media is. Media like the New York Times, which lost its credibility a long time ago. The fact that Barrack was not eligible to run was exposed by none other than Hillary Roddam Clinton. She was Barracks opponent in the 2008 Primary. According to Obama himself, his father was a Kenyan (who knows the truth), which is a disqualifier according to the US Constitution. Both parents of a candidate must be Naturalized Citizens to qualify. The corrupt media called Hillary a Racist & eventually forced her to drop out of the race. So when Barrack won the Primary, in order to do damage control, Barracks Marxist buds in the media blamed Republicans for the ” misinformation ” that he might not be a legitimate candidate. The corrupt media began calling any Republican or Conservative who broached the subject of his Legitimacy, a “BIRTHER” as if his birth certificate was in question. Nevermind the fact that all of Barracks past records had been legally sealed & could not be accessed by any media. Who has their past sealed from public scrutiny when they want to be elected to serve as the most Powerful Person in the World? And who is dumb enough to accept that & vote for him anyway?
Even though Ms Gay finally stepped down from her crowned position, she will continue to be paid nearly One Million Dollars a year. Students and their parents should be livid. They’re paying a cheaters salary, even though if they plaigerize their work, they can be kicked out of the university. She steps down from the position of Harvard President, which the world knows she got bc she checked the box for DEI (aka Affirmative Action). She was incompetent & unethical, but that doesn’t seem to matter. She doesn’t take responsibility, nor does she apologize for cheating on her college work. I’d love to know who on the Harvard Board thought passing up more qualified people for that formerly reputable institution, was going to work out well for Harvard. Ms Gay plagerized every paper she ever wrote. She never wrote a book. A lot of her plagerism was from Dr Carol Swain, a Nashvillian & former Vanderbilt & Princeton professor, who happens to be a black woman as well.
One thing I hope happens in the near future is that Meritocracy, Ethics & Morals return to the American Culture.
Ben Crump is a political hack and a Communist!
Ben Crump is just wrong. again…..
Police “Reform” = Getting rid of law enforcement to allow criminals complete and total control over the cities