After the Tennessee Highway Patrol drove cruisers into a crowd of anti-ICE marchers earlier this month, the agency released dash camera video showing one cruiser bumping into a volunteer safety marshal. The agency said the video showed that it was “false” that “an individual was hit by a Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper,” seeking to discredit claims that it had run into protesters.
But KB, one of the protesters who was hit by a different cruiser during the march, noticed something: The state agency hadn’t released the dash camera video showing the moment when he and another protester were hit simultaneously.
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“I think it’s very suspicious,” KB said. “If it wasn’t that bad, they would have just released it. … They released (the video) they felt was more favorable to them.”
KB, who is using a pseudonym to protect his privacy, was eventually diagnosed with postconcussional syndrome after the incident.
He marched with the anti-ICE crowd along Summer Avenue on Jan. 11, starting at the Autozone on Waring Road and turning around at Grahamwood Elementary School. On their return, numerous THP vehicles drove behind and alongside the crowd.
As the vehicles began to drive into the crowd, KB noticed a volunteer safety marshal standing by themselves. Thinking troopers might be less likely to drive over two people, KB went to stand next to the marshal. KB wasn’t formally marshaling that day, but has experience as a volunteer marshal.
“I stopped and stood next to (the marshal), and then pretty much simultaneously I got hit,” KB said. “The push bar hits me in the legs, upper legs, torso and around my waist, so I fall forward, because I can’t get my arms up. My chest lands on the hood of the car, and my feet came up off the ground a bit. … There was, like, a brief moment where I was on the hood of his car and he was still moving. And so when he stopped, I just luckily landed on my feet.”
The Tennessee Highway Patrol did not answer questions from MLK50: Justice Through Journalism about the incident.
KB was able to walk away from the vehicle that struck him. He saw troopers push Rebecca Leathers, whom they arrested, into a vehicle.
At first, KB felt physically fine, but began to notice his shoulder and neck hurting as he walked back to Autozone. Soon, he started to have balance issues and feel disoriented, something he wasn’t sure was from being hit by the cruiser or from his preexisting postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome diagnosis, which can cause dizziness and brain fog.
KB has had concussions before, from sports and “bad luck,” he said. Even though he hadn’t been hit on the head, he felt concussed and wondered if the whiplash effect of his upper body being slammed against the top of the car could have caused the concussive symptoms, he said.
After the march concluded, a friend drove KB to a Methodist Minor Medical Center. There, they were told the center doesn’t do concussion testing, KB said. They headed to the emergency room, where KB was given an X-ray and a CT scan of his head. They also didn’t do concussion testing, so KB eventually went home.
Over the next few days, KB continued to feel unwell, with sporadic headaches, brain fog, “wooziness” and loss of balance. He did a telehealth visit, where they diagnosed him with postconcussional syndrome. KB provided MLK50 with copies of his medical records from these healthcare visits.
In the aftermath of the incident, KB said numerous people saw a video of him and the marshal being hit. But the dash camera video released by the Tennessee Highway Patrol didn’t come from the cruiser that hit KB. THP’s statement did not acknowledge that he and the marshal had been hit.
“Everybody who had the authority to make this decision decided to go with the route of we’re going to omit that footage, we’re going to be dishonest with the public,” KB said. “It’s just reflective of a horrifying structural and cultural dishonesty within that agency.”
KB has tagged THP on social media and responded to comments saying the video released by THP meant no one was hit. He wants an investigation into why THP was at the march and whether the Memphis Police Department knew that THP planned to drive into the crowd.
State Rep. Justin Pearson previously called for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to open an investigation into THP’s actions at the march.
The incident reminded KB of when U.S. homeland security adviser Stephen Miller told law enforcement officers they were “unleashed” while launching the Memphis Safe Task Force last fall.
“Yeah, they were unleashed,” KB said. “They showed up in a disorganized manner, ran into a crowd, arrested somebody and then drove off.”
Still, KB says he was glad that he was hit instead of someone else.
“Nobody that goes to a protest should have to worry about getting hurt, especially people there that are marching for their own freedom and for their family members,” KB said. “I’m just some white dude that’s already involved in protesting and marshaling and monitoring ICE and whatnot. So rather it be me.”
Katherine Burgess is the government accountability reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Contact her at katherine.burgess@mlk50.com
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