Council members call for the resignation of Chief Anderson. Establishment protects rioters from arrest.

Bob Mendes

by Rod Williams - In a blog post and on Facebook last week I expressed an opinion that I thought Chief Anderson should resign.  I was incensed that police just stood by and watched and did not stop the vandalism and destruction during the rioting of last Saturday night.  Upon reflection and after being challenged by someone I respect to not throw the Chief under the bus, that perhaps he was just following orders of the mayor, I rescind my earlier call for the Chief to resign. I acted hastily.

I criticize the way the riot was handled, however.  As soon as the spray painting started, police should have made arrest.  They did not.  They allowed a police cruiser to be destroyed and did not act, they allowed the stature of Sen. Edward Ward Carmack to be toppled and windows to be broken and garbage can holders to be pulled up and thrown in the street and trash fires set and did nothing.  They allowed light poles in front of the court house to be toppled. I also do not think protestors should be allowed to just take over streets and block traffic.  They were.  The police did not act until arsonist set fires in the courthouse, even then they reacted slowly.  I was afraid they were going to let the fire get out of control before they responded.

Freddie O'Connell

I don't know if this just-stand-by-and-watch-it-happen police reaction was a decision by Chief Anderson or was a policy directed by Mayor John Cooper.  The council should hold hearings and determine who set that policy.  Unfortunately, I suspect that there is no appetite in the Council to question the policy.  I suspect most members of the Council agree with it.

There are now calls for Chief Anderson to resign coming from members of the Council.  Not because he stood by and simply observed lawlessness happen, but because he issued arrest warrants for two of the riot ringleaders.  The two people whom the police sought to arrest were Justin Jones and Jeneisha Harris. They are well-known activist leaders.  Jones has been in the news many times for illegal activities.  I was once at a Marsha Blackburn event and during a moment of silence to honor victims of  a mass shooting, Jones yelled out a series of angry denunciations of Blackburn. When security tired to escort him from the building he resisted and had to be forcibly removed. You may also have heard of Jones for an incident when he threw a cup of hot coffee on Speaker Glen Casada at the State Capitol.

Dave Rosenberg

The warrants for Jones and Harris were for felony aggravated rioting for the vandalism of the police cruiser. That vehicle, a 2018 Ford, may be a total loss. Eighteen police vehicles were damaged during the riot and eleven of those are still out of commission. A warrant was issued for a third person for the same crime and it has not been rescinded. The third person does not have the same activist celebrity status as does Jones and Harris.

Calls for Chief Anderson to resign have come from Council members Freddie O’Connell, Dave Rosenberg, and Bob Mendes.

Shortly after being issued, the Metro police recalled the warrants. In an official Metro press release it was stated, "After a review of additional information from last Saturday, some of which was just received this afternoon, the MNPD and District Attorney General Glenn Funk agree that the arrest warrants issued last night against Justin-Bautista-Jones and Janeisha Harris will be recalled for the present."  I imagined what really happened is that Glenn Funk told Chief Anderson he would not prosecute even if the police made the arrest.  Who knows?  Maybe the mayor overruled Anderson.  In any event, two leaders of Nashville's radial movement were protected from arrest.

Fortunately, a protest on Thursday night remained peaceful. There is another protest scheduled for tonight and we will see what happens.  Protestors have pretty much been given a green light to do whatever they want and the Nashville political establishment will protect them.  Elections have consequences and Nashville has elected a soft-on-crime District Attorney and a very progressive Metro Council.  Metro is getting the type of government for which they voted.

For more on this see these links: link, link, link.

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