Live from Music Row, Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the CEO of the Tennessee Firearms Association, John Harris in studio to comment upon the body cam video of Tyre Nichols who was murdered Thursday evening by five Memphis police officers.
Leahy: We are joined in studio right now to kind of help put this all in perspective by our very good friend for many years, a Vanderbilt Law School graduate, practicing attorney for three decades, I think here, the founder and CEO of the Tennessee Firearms Association.
Really the premier Second Amendment Association, not only in Tennessee, but frankly, although it focuses on Tennessee law, I would call it the premier Second Amendment organization in the country, Mr. John Harris. Good morning, John.
Harris: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
Leahy: John, can you help us make sense of the circumstances down in Memphis, where on Thursday, five former Memphis police officers were involved in the beating death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols? Five of those police officers were arrested and charged with second-degree murder on Thursday.
The video cam, which is stunningly damning, I would call it, was released Friday at 6:00 p.m.
John, can you, from a Second Amendment perspective give us your thoughts on this particular incident?
Harris: The case doesn’t have any earmarks right off the bat that it has anything to do typically with Second Amendment. But we did a story on the Tennessee Firearms Association’s website over the weekend, and I’ve been amazed at the amount of traffic that stories received.
Leahy: So tell us what the story was and why you think that it received traffic.
Harris: It’s an analysis that says, okay, we’ve got this horrible event with Nichols that occurred in Memphis. And all the video indicates that at no point did he ever present a risk of harm or injury or lethal force to the officers.
Leahy: Never. When first dragged out of his car and thrown to the ground on the street. In the first part, when it began, he was just saying, what are you doing? He was saying why? And they kept yelling, show us your hands!
Show us your hands! He didn’t really look to be resisting showing his hands. They just seemed to be saying one thing, show us your hands, but not really attempting to handcuff him. That’s what it looked like to me.
Harris: I’m not saying it is but it looks like an overdub. Because what you’re seeing on the video doesn’t match some of the audio that you’re hearing.
Leahy: My theory on it is these police officers knew there was body cam. I think it was performative on their part. In other words, what they were saying they were saying to have an audio record.
Harris:Â Yes, that’s entirely possible. That’s one reason that they’re wearing the body cams to have audio and video record. And if you know you’re creating one as opposed to some bystander with a cell phone, then you have the opportunity to, on a premeditated basis, influence.
Leahy: And set the narrative.
Harris: Set the narrative.
Leahy: My take on this, John, there’s no way that their story holds up. There was no way that they observed him recklessly driving, pulled him over, and just at random. To me, it looks like they were targeting this young man.
Harris: You got to wonder with officers having there are five vehicles involved, apparently. Five officers, five vehicles. That one or more of them had dash cams. They all had body cams. Where’s the footage of the other dashcams?
Leahy: Where’s the footage of them tracking him allegedly recklessly driving? The police chief Cerelyn Davis, who set up this out-of-control unit a little over a year ago, said on Friday there’s no evidence he was reckless driving. It gets worse.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “John Harris” by Tennessee Firearms Association, Inc. Background Photo “Police” by Tom Woodward. CC BY-SA 2.0.
