ACLU Seeks Injunction Against 2,000-Officer Memphis Task Force Over False Arrests
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 28
ACLU Seeks Injunction Against 2,000-Officer Memphis Task Force Over False Arrests
7 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 28
Six community observers backed the ACLU’s court filing with declarations alleging Memphis task-force officers tailed cars, surveilled homes, used “immense force” and falsely arrested people filming operations.
One plaintiff, Jessica Chodor, said officers tackled her while she livestreamed an arrest, held her 27 hours in an overcrowded cell, and later saw the resisting-detention charge dropped.
The suit says officers also weaponized Tennessee’s 25-foot Halo law by shifting exclusion zones and threatening arrest to push monitors away from scenes.
Governor Bill Lee launched the Trump-backed operation last September, deploying more than 2,000 state and federal officers; the U.S. Marshals Service declined comment.
Trump and Tennessee officials have touted the task force’s results—7,000 arrests, 1,000 guns seized and crime down 43%—even as the ACLU argues violent crime was already falling before it began.
When does the right to film police clash with laws designed to protect officers, and who decides the boundary?
With Memphis crime already falling, what does data reveal about the federal task force's actual impact on public safety?