Local 24 learned a lot more about the disciplinary records of three Memphis Police Officers involved in the shooting of 25-year-old Martavious Banks last week. The father of two remains in critical condition at Region One.
All three officers are Mike Williams II, Jamarcus Jeames and Christopher Nowell. All in their mid-20’s with less than 5 years on the force.
Jeames has been identified as the officer who shot Banks. According to investigators, both Nowell and Williams pulled up to the scene in south Memphis as shots were fired. The officers and MPD has come under fire since learning none of the officers had their body cameras on.
Local 24 dug through the officer’s personnel files and found one of the officers has been reprimanded for improper use of a body cam.
“I want to know who they are. I want their badge numbers. I want them, I want their records checked in the media.”
That was Janice Banks last Thursday demanding MPD go public with the names of the men responsible the shooting of her son Martavious Banks.
After a week of waiting she now knows the names and faces of the officers under investigation in the shooting of her son Martavious.
Turns out, deactivating a body cam for one of the officers is nothing new.
Last August officer Michael Williams II got in trouble for turning off his body camera.
Documents show Williams was assisting another officer during a traffic stop. While he initially activated his body camera. He shut it down before his duties were complete. His actions resulted in two written reprimands, one for turning off the camera and another for not filling out a proper form.
Williams told investigators he turned the equipment off as he was leaving the scene. But that’s when the woman being arrested became irate. Williams said he returned to help the other officers. In the process he says he forgot to turn his camera back on.
As for the other officers identified 26-year-old Jamarcus Jeames as the officer who shot Banks on Gill Avenue in South Memphis last Monday.
As Local 24 has reported Jeames’ body camera was never on to document the original traffic stop.
Looking through his files Jeames’ first and only written reprimand was four months ago when he was involved in a minor accident with a police vehicle.
As for Christopher Nowell he has two written reprimands. One for damaging his PDA during a foot chase and the other is for a car crash in 2015 that required him taking a remedial driving class.
MPD continues to investigation why the body cameras were not on. Meanwhile, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the officer involved shooting.
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