Parents of two men who died in separate encounters with Memphis-area law enforcement call for transparency and justice
By Carma Hassan, CNN
(CNN) — The parents of two Black men who died in unrelated in-custody encounters with law enforcement in Shelby County, Tennessee, this summer said they are seeking transparency.
Jarveon Hudspeth, 21, died following a traffic stop with a Shelby County sheriff’s deputy on June 24.
Courtney Ross died after he was detained by Memphis police in August.
In an emotionally charged news conference on Friday, Hudspeth’s mother, Charlotte Haggett, said the college student was missing for two days before she was told by the sheriff’s office he died in a car accident.
She said he actually died after a deputy shot him.
Jarveon Hudspeth was shot after a traffic stop
Edited video released on Thursday – two months after Hudspeth’s death – by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office shows a deputy pulling over Hudspeth. The 21-year-old followed the deputy’s instructions and got out of the car.
The deputy patted him down and checked his pockets before asking him to get in the back of the patrol vehicle.
Hudspeth got back into his car behind the wheel, despite the deputy ordering him not to get back in, the edited video shows.
As Hudspeth attempted to drive away, the sheriff’s deputy jumped into the front driver’s side with Hudspeth.
“For reasons still under investigation, the situation escalated, resulting in the man driving off and dragging the deputy approximately 100 yards. At some point, the deputy fired his service weapon at least once, striking the driver, who drove about a half mile further before stopping, and subsequently died on the way to the hospital,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release on June 25.
It is not clear why the Shelby County sheriff’s deputy stopped Hudspeth.
According to video obtained by CNN affiliate KHBQ, the deputy appears to fall from the car after the shooting and Hudspeth eventually crashed.
The district attorney’s office said the deputy had critical injuries following the encounter.
A spokesperson for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement at the time of the shooting “the deputy involved in the incident has been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the investigation.”
On Friday, the spokesperson said the deputy “is currently receiving treatment following a number of surgeries sustained in the line of duty.”
The spokesperson declined to answer further questions about the shooting, saying TBI is handling the investigation.
CNN has reached out to the medical examiner’s office for a copy of the autopsy report.
‘How does this keep happening?’
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents both the families of Hudspeth and Ross, said “How does this keep happening?”
“Unarmed Black men have interactions with police and they end up dead,” he said.
“It is a concern of trust. We can’t trust the police narrative,” Crump added.
“A trained police officer jumped into the car with both feet on a routine traffic stop, created a life or death situation, shoots a young 21-year-old Black male,” Crump said.
The attorney said he knows people will want to blame Hudspeth for driving off, but said Tyre Nichols’ death has made a lot of young Black men fear law enforcement.
Nichols died after he was repeatedly punched and kicked by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop and brief foot chase earlier this year.
Hudspeth’s mother said her son’s encounter happened in their subdivision, seven houses from his home, which is where she says he was trying to go so she could protect him.
“Jarveon wanted to get to me, I know that. Jarveon wanted to get home,” she said. “I know that Jarveon knew once he was in front of the house, that I was going to protect him by any means necessary.”
She cried as she showed her necklace, filled with her son’s cremated ashes.
“I wear my son’s body around my neck today. Nobody should have to do that,” she said, adding she wants justice for her son.
She says the deputy never called the traffic stop in, and when she called them looking for him, the sheriff’s office said he had been in a car accident and they couldn’t identify him.
“They never – not one time – told me that he was shot by a deputy and died,” Haggett said.
She says after his death, she slept on the couch in the living room to be close to the door in case he came home and she would watch the doorbell video of him leaving home for the last time.
The footage released by the district attorney’s office was from the deputy’s vehicle camera, his body-worn camera and a neighbor’s doorbell camera.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is conducting an investigation into Hudspeth’s death as well as the death of Courtney Ross.
“Our investigations remain active and ongoing in both incidents,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Keli McAlister said in an email to CNN.
Foot chase leads to Courtney Ross’s death
Ross, 19, died earlier this month, according to the Memphis Police Department.
Police responding to reports of a man rooting around in boxes containing rat poison and going through residents’ mailboxes approached Ross, the Memphis police department said in a news release posted to their Facebook page on August 11.
Police say the 19-year-old “walked away from the officers and began running.”
When the officers caught up to Ross, they say he “began to resist being handcuffed” and when they placed him in the police car, Ross “appeared to be out of breath and exhausted from running,” the news release said.
Ross was transported to a hospital via ambulance in critical condition and later died, according to police.
The Memphis Police Department said in the statement the officers “will be relieved of duty pending the outcome of the investigation.”
Ross’ father, Courtney Allen, said his son, who shares his first name, looked like him and reminds him of himself so much. The two men worked together.
Allen said Ross was a hardworking, talented and well-mannered young man who was familiar to people in the community.
Crump said the teen had “mental health challenges,” and Allen said he was working with him on those challenges.
“We just want to know what happened. We just want to know the truth,” Allen said, adding he believes his son ran from the police because he was scared.
A spokesperson for the Memphis Police Department referred CNN to the district attorney’s office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
CNN has not yet heard back from the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.
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