Police officers deal with racial tensions after Nashville man intervenes in operation

Lawrenceburg Police officers were forced to deal with some racial tension Monday night when a Nashville man intervened as they were patting down a suspect in an assault incident that had occurred shortly before.

Department reports show that officers were called to Rotary Park around 10:15 p.m. to check on some loud juveniles at the basketball court. While en route, they were notified by another officer to be on the lookout for a man wearing a Budweiser cap, driving a red van, who had reportedly been involved in an aggravated assault incident earlier in the evening. Reports show that the victim was beaten with a metal railroad spike, sustaining injuries that required him to be transported to the emergency room.

The reporting officer indicates that as he turned into the parking lot, he saw a man matching the description given walking toward a red van. He exited his police car and made contact with the man as other officers arrived on the scene. He said that as he was patting down the suspect, two men approached “wanting to know what was going on.” The officer said the men used racially-inflammatory language and were ordered to go back to the basketball court, but that both refused to do so.

Reports show that one of the men, identified as Marcus Dejaun Perkins, 18, of 871 Grenada Avenue, East Nashville, became very aggressive and began to curse. The officer said he warned Perkins that he was going to pat him down for officer safety and asked whether he had any weapons on his person. He said that Perkins put both hands into his pockets and refused to answer. He also refused to remove his hands from his pockets when ordered to do so.

The officer reports that he got behind Perkins and grabbed his upper arms, again ordering him to remove his hands from his pockets, and that he then “became very combative and struck the officer in the chest with his elbow.” The officer warned him not to strike him again and says he “gave him the benefit of the doubt it was accidental.” He said that Perkins then “swung his elbow around and again struck him in the chest area.” At that point, the officer reports that he “spun him (Perkins) around and placed him on the ground, chest first.” Perkins was then handcuffed and placed under arrest.

During this time, the officer reports that several teenagers began “yelling at us stating it was black on white crime and that the only reason I threw him on the ground was because he was black.”

A sixteen year old female witness wrote out a statement refuting the groups’ claims. She reported that she had, “Seen a black male disrespecting a police officer. He elbowed the officer and the officer was trying to search him and then he got took to the ground. Then a lot of teens started going crazy saying it’s because he was black.”

The officer had body cam footage of the incident which is being held in evidence at the department.

Perkins was placed under arrest on charges of disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer. He was transported to the Lawrence County Detention Center where he was incarcerated in lieu of a $3,500 bond.

Perkins is slated to answer the charges in General Sessions Court on June 2, 2016.