The District Attorney’s office has decided not to file charges against law enforcement officers who shot people in three fatal incidents in 2021. 

Officers in two of the incidents shot at suspects who struck or nearly struck them with their vehicles. In the third incident, an officer shot back at a suspect who fired a shot into his chest, but he was protected by his bulletproof vest.

“The decisions were based on facts, evidence and statements compiled in comprehensive reports by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crime Response Team,” a press release from the DA’s office reads. “The reports then were examined and discussed by the DA’s Officer Involved Death Review Team consisting of Gen. (Amy) Weirich and five senior prosecuting attorneys.”

Antonio Jackson, 26, was shot by a lieutenant with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 16, 2021, at Robinhood Park Apartments. The lieutenant was trying to arrest Jackson in a narcotics investigation as Jackson sat in his parked car.

Jackson drove off and struck the officer with his car. The officer fired two shots before he was knocked to the ground. One of those shots hit Jackson in the chest and killed him. Officers found a stolen pistol, marijuana, cocaine and fentanyl in Jackson’s car. He had $1,900 in his pockets.

Kayla Lucas, 25, was shot by a Memphis Police Department officer Dec. 15, 2021, outside a McDonald’s Restaurant at 3120 S. Third St. She was in the drive-thru line in a stolen car. As the officer approached her with his weapon drawn, Lucas reversed the vehicle, striking the driver’s door of a squad car as a second officer exited.

As that officer jumped back inside to avoid being crushed, a third officer slipped and fell while trying to avoid the suspect’s car. The first officer fired shots at the driver through the car’s windshield and struck Lucas once in the side. She died at the scene.

An Arkansas State Trooper shot Terrance Dogan, 27, and John Henry Taylor, 18, Dec. 16, 2021, following a high-speed chase into Memphis that ended on West McLemore Ave. at Interstate 55. Dogan was wanted on violent felony warrants in South Carolina.

As Dogan drove past and in front of the state trooper, he fired multiple rounds and struck him in the chest. The officer’s protective vest stopped the bullet and the trooper shot back at Dogan through his windshield. He struck Dogan’s fleeing vehicle multiple times. Dogan’s vehicle came to a stop. Memphis Police officers found Dogan and Taylor dead from single gunshot wounds. 

Before decisions are released, involved law enforcement agencies are notified, the District Attorney meets with the families of the deceased and redactions are made to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reports containing thousands of pages and hundreds of photographs.

Reports, photographs and videos have been redacted in accordance with Tennessee law and privacy standards. If officers who shot suspects are not charged with a crime, their names are redacted. 

Weirich, the Memphis Police Department, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and the TBI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2015 that outlines the procedure in which investigations on officer-inflicted deaths are conducted. 

The district attorney is immediately informed when a death is caused by law enforcement or while in the custody of law enforcement. The lead prosecutor then notifies TBI to ask them to conduct an investigation.

Once TBI completes its report, the district attorney makes the decision whether officers are charged. 

Before 2017, Weirich had to seek permission from Chancery Court to release the reports to the public because TBI’s investigative files were confidential under state law. 

The state legislature approved a bill allowing investigative records on officer-inflicted deaths be made available to the public once investigations and prosecutions are completed.

The announcement of the decision not to charge the officers comes just days before Weirich leaves office. District Attorney General-elect Steve Mulroy will take office Sept. 1.