The Body Count
Victims of Police Terror
In Memphis, Tennessee
2012 and 2013
Compiled by the
Memphis Black
Autonomy Federation
P.O. Box 16382
Memphis, TN 38186-0382
(901)674-8430
organize.the.hood@gmail.com
What is that smell? There is something wrong in Memphis, TN. It is the stench of political corruption and coverup, murder/rape/ and robbery by cops, fear and intimidation of the populace from speaking up because of a police reign of terror, and the routine nature of violent death. There is no justice, there is in short a lynch law legal environment, where neither Blacks or the poor have any rights that the local government is bound to respect. Thus there are literally dead bodies buried everywhere!
In just the last two years, 23 persons have been killed by Memphis police officers, these include two teens, aged 15 and 18, a blind man beaten to death, two men murdered for sleeping in their cars, and a number of citizens just victimized by the police, who routinely use deadly force.
2012
1. Jeremy McCraven, 20, shot to death in the back
by police on February 10, 2012, while allegedly
driving a stolen car.
2. William Howlett, 41, died on March 10, 2012,
after becoming “unresponsive” after police
chased and arrested him for allegedly attacking
his girlfriend.
3. Randy Green died in March, 2012. A family
friend said that Green, who was blind, was
pepper-sprayed to death by Memphis police
officers on the campus of the University of
Memphis, where Green was trying to use
the library.
4. Dewayne Bailey, 38, shot to death on May 8,
2012, after falling asleep in his car in a store
parking lot. Witnesses disputed the claim by
police that when they woke Bailey up, he got
out of his car and fought with them, then
got back in his car and started driving it.
5. Christian Freeman, 19, shot to death on June 12,
2012, downtown on Beale Street. Police alleged that
Freeman threatened them with a knife. Family
members said Freeman had mental health problems
and that police knew this because they had arrested
him in April for disorderly conduct.
6. Hernandez Dowdy, 36, shot to death on June 27,
2012. Police say Dowdy, who was black, was a
carjacking suspect whom they chased, and that
they killed him because they mistakenly thought
he had a gun. The owner of the car, a white
woman, had filed a false report.
7. Lorenzo Davis, 28, died on July 3, 2012, after
police chased and arrested him for allegedly selling
drugs. He collapsed after he was in custody. Doctors
told his mother that he had severe head injuries,
internal bleeding, and a broken leg.
8. Delois Epps, 54, died on August 26, 2012, in a car
crash caused by a Memphis police officer. Witnesses
said the officer was speeding at the time of the crash and
did not use the flashing lights and the siren on
his car as required by police regulations.
9. Makayla Ross, 13, died in a car crash with her
mother, Delois Epps ,on August 26, 2012. (See
above.) Officer Alex Beard, who caused the crash,
was later fired, and in May, 2013, was charged with
two counts of vehicular homicide.
10. Justin Thompson, 15, shot to death on September
24, 2012, by off-duty police officer Terrance Shaw,
who claimed Thompson tried to rob him. Shaw, who
admitted that he knew Thompson prior to killing him,
resigned when questioned about his relationship with
the boy.
11. Charles Livingston, 32, shot to death on
December 27, 2012. Police claimed they killed
Livingston while he was fleeing from a McDonald's
restaurant, which he allegedly robbed, and that he
pointed a gun at them.
2013 (as of July 14, 2013)
12. Donald Moore, 67, shot to death on January 11, 2013.
Police claim that when they came to Moore's home to
serve him with a warrant for animal cruelty, he pointed a
gun at them.
13. Steven Askew, 24, shot to death on January 17, 2013,
after falling asleep in his car waiting for his girlfriend to
come home from work. Two police officers, who were
called to the area on another matter, claimed that when they
approached Askew’s car, he pointed a gun at them, and
they killed him. Askew was licensed to carry a gun. A
video of the incident disputes the police version of events.
14. Horace Whiting, 63, shot to death on March 10, 2013.
Police claim Whiting had a shotgun when they confronted
him in front of his house and that he fired at them when
they told him to put the gun down. A neighbor of Whiting
said Whiting never pointed the gun at anyone, and never
menaced officers and that he was on his own porch.
15. George Golden, 42, died on April 5, 2013, from
injuries he sustained on March 27 after he was shot,
kicked and beaten by two police officers in the parking
lot of a Walmart store, where police claim Golden was
shoplifting. A cell phone video taken by a bystander
shows that one cop beat and kicked Golden while he
was lying on the ground after being shot by another cop.
Police made no reference to the fatal shooting in their final incident report.
16. Daniel Brock, 47, shot to death on April 10, 2013.
Police claim that when they stopped Brock for an
alleged incident of “road rage,” they shot him
because they thought he had a gun. Brock’s son
said his father had a mental illness and was taking
medication for it.
17. Amjustine Hunter, 28, shot to death in his car on
April 23, 2013, at a gas filling station. At least one
witness disputed the police story that after they stopped Hunter for
“suspicious” activity and that police shot him when he tried
to run them over with his car.
18. John Walker died on May 18, 2013, when an off-
duty police officer hit the motorcycle Walker was
riding while working as a traffic escort for a funeral.
19. Police claim an unidentified man shot himself to
death on May 24, 2013, after he allegedly shot at
police officers at an apartment complex. To date, no
public report has been found verifying the story of
the police.
20. Byron Kelley, 32, shot to death on June 4, 2013, in
Olive Branch, Miss., by Memphis police and DEA agents.
21. Johnny Taylor, 33, shot to death on July 1, 2013.
Police said they killed Taylor after he fired at them
outside his home.
22. Marvin Amerson allegedly committed suicide on July 23, 2013, according
to MPD, after a standoff with officers following a bank robbery.
23. Aaron Dumas, 32, killed on October 15, 2013, when
tactical officers of the Memphis police department threw chemicals
into the house where they had chased Dumas, causing the house to
catch on fire.
STOP POLICE MURDER, PROSECUTE THE COPS!
