Police officers involved in three fatal shooting incidents in Memphis won’t face criminal charges, the top prosecutor in Tennessee’s most populous county said.
Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said the shootings of fleeing felons last year were justified. The decisions were based on evidence, facts and statements in reports compiled by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A review team that included Weirich then examined the reports, Weirich said in a news release.
In August 2021, a suspect in a narcotics investigation struck a Shelby County sheriff’s lieutenant with his car. The officer fired two shots, one of which hit the suspect in the chest. A stolen pistol, marijuana, cocaine and fentanyl were found inside the car and the suspect had $1,900 in his pockets, the statement said.
Last December, a Memphis police officer shot a woman who put a stolen car in reverse at a restaurant drive-thru lane, striking another officer’s police cruiser, the statement said.
And an Arkansas state trooper was cleared in the December 2021 fatal shootings of two men in a fleeing vehicle after the driver had fired multiple rounds at the trooper, hitting him in the chest. The chase ended in Memphis, the statement said.