State lawmakers have passed a bill that would — if it becomes law — invalidate a local Memphis ordinance banning certain kinds of low-level police traffic stops.
The city approved the ordinance last year, in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death.
The Republican-majority Senate voted along party lines Thursday in favor of a measure that prohibits all local governing authorities across the state from curbing an officer’s ability to pull people over for any observed infraction including so-called pretextual ones.
The House already approved the bill.
Nichols’ mother and stepfather joined Memphis officials in lobbying the bill’s sponsors – two Republicans from Shelby County, Sen. Brent Taylor and Rep. John Gillespie – to reconsider.
Video footage shows Memphis police officers brutally beating Nichols last year after he was pulled over for alleged reckless driving. He died in the hospital three days later.
In response to community outcry, City Council members sought local reform, including a curb on pretextual stops.
The council voted in favor of restricting the police department in most cases from pulling drivers over exclusively for five minor violations including an improperly located registration permit or loose bumper.
Nichols’ family said they hoped the local action could help prevent future tragedies.
“There are many other Memphians that have experienced pretextual stops with police that ended with violence,” they said in a statement. “We wish that instead of this political sabotage, we could have come together to discuss what is working and what isn’t. Compromise could have happened, but we were never given the opportunity to try.”
In contrast, Sen. Taylor told lawmakers on the Senate floor that traffic stops are an “important law enforcement tool” and used to solve major crimes.
“[The Memphis ordinance is] putting our police officers in a very difficult position because all of these offenses that have been banned are actually also state offenses,” Taylor said. “So a police officer, who has a sworn duty to enforce state law, now can be subjected to disciplinary action for violating the ordinance that City Council passed when trying only to enforce state law.”
Memphis Democrat Sen. Raumesh Akbari pushed back, calling state lawmakers efforts to undermine a local bipartisan measure “extreme overreach.”
“It was a community discussion,” she said. “It was not a blue Memphis City Council taking advantage of other members from a different party. It was a: ‘Let’s come together to make a change.’”
Sen. Taylor pointed out local elected officials have created confusion by giving varying accounts of whether the Memphis traffic ordinance ever went into effect.
Police Chief CJ Davis insisted that she incorporated the policy internally, despite former Mayor Jim Strickland saying his administration did not have the authority to enforce it. Strickland’s successor, current Mayor Paul Young, says he supports the ordinance.
Gov. Bill Lee will now decide whether to add his signature to the bill.
