TN Bureau of Investigation to investigate officers in beating of Brandon Calloway

The Tennessee state Bureau of Investigation announced Friday that it is opening a probe after police brutally beat and arrested a 25-year-old Black man in suburban Memphis.

Brandon Calloway was heading home after completing a DoorDash delivery on July 16 when officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop. Officials told local news station WREG that Calloway allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign and was driving 32 miles per hour in a 20 mile per hour zone. 

Officials claimed Calloway did not stop when they attempted to pull him over, so they followed him to his father’s house.

Cell phone footage showed two officers kicking open the front door of the home before they ran up the stairs and proceeded to tase and beat Calloway with batons as a woman screamed in the background for them to stop. 

“Why are you chasing him and hitting him? He has no weapon,” the woman said. 

At one point, video showed an officer placing his boot on Calloway’s neck. Immediately, the woman can be heard yelling at officers to “get off of his neck.”

Larry Gaines, Oakland assistant chief of police, said an officer involved in the incident has been relieved of duty with pay pending the outcome of the bureau’s investigation.

The video went viral, and images of Calloway’s bloodied face circulated social media.

On Friday, the nation’s first intercollegiate Black male fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, released a statement, which called the incident “disturbing” and demanded a “fair and transparent investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.” Calloway is a member of the fraternity.

“Incidents like these further highlight law enforcement’s perceived disparity in its treatment of people of color and lack of professionalism seen in the viral video of the incident,” the statement added. 

The statement urged all law enforcement to “revisit their engagement and usage of force practices and procedures.”

The fraternity said it “refuses to remain silent when people of color, particularly members of our fraternity, are treated unfairly and brutalized.” 

Calloway faces charges of evading arrest, disorderly conduct, failing to stop at a stop sign and speeding, according to a report from The New York Times.