Officers from Tennessee Highway Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI responded to a. traffic stop on Lamar Ave. in Memphis, Tennessee on Oct. 7, 2025. They detained the driver for at least 45 minutes while they searched his car, then let him go with a citation for a loose front bumper. (Photograph by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
MEMPHIS — A Tennessee Highway Patrol officer rested his hat on the roof of a white sedan — its front plastic bumper slightly sagging, doors and trunk open — as he searched between the front seats with a flashlight.
The car’s driver, a middle-aged Black man with dreadlocks pulled back into a ponytail, stood between another Highway Patrol officer and a man in an FBI vest near the hood of a THP vehicle and an unmarked pickup truck. The driver crossed his arms and stared at his feet, outfitted in white socks and slides. Two more officers wearing Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) vests walked between the sedan and the flashing blue lights of the THP car…