MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The report by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on the shooting of Martavious Banks in 2018 in South Memphis is now online.
The officers involved were not charged, and Banks filed a $10,000 lawsuit over the shooting.
We are also seeing new police body camera video from that day. The video shows when officers pull a car over and start talking to the driver.
The driver then takes off when a second officer walks over to the passenger side. After officers followed the car to a home, the officers are outside with their guns drawn.
Below is the news release from the Shelby County District Attorney regarding the release of the TBI report.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s report on the non-fatal shooting of a 25-year-old man by a Memphis officer two years ago in South Memphis has been posted online by Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.
The case began with the traffic stop on Sept. 17, 2018, of Martavious Banks who sped away from officers when they noticed a handgun in his front seat.
Banks drove for some five miles at a high rate of speed through the streets of South Memphis trying to elude police before stopping at a residence in the 1200 block of Gill Avenue off of Elvis Presley near South Parkway.
An officer who chased him to the front porch shot Banks five times when he said the suspect turned and began to point a handgun at him. The gun was recovered inside the house where Banks collapsed.
Banks, who recovered from his wounds, pled guilty in August of 2018 to intentionally evading arrest in an automobile and creating a risk of death or injury, and to illegal possession of a firearm while having a prior conviction of domestic violence.
He was sentenced to two years of probation, plus an additional 10 months and 12 days of probation for violating terms of probation for a previous assault conviction.
The officer who fired the shots resigned. Three other officers were disciplined for violations of department policy related to body-worn cameras, pursuit and radio communications.
No criminal charges were brought against the officers.
The Banks criminal case been closed for one year, and with no further action pending it is now is considered a public record under Tennessee law. Gen. Weirich recently petitioned Chancery Court to obtain an order allowing release of the TBI investigation.
The TBI file on the case can be found at https://www.scdag.com/officer-involved-deaths, Redactions have been made in accordance with Tennessee law and privacy standards.