Investigative Reporter
Marc Perrusquia is the director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis. He's won numerous national awards for feature writing and investigative reporting.
There are 57 articles by Marc Perrusquia :
An investigation by The Daily Memphian leads District Attorney Amy Weirich to ask MPD to systematically refer findings of excessive force to her office for criminal review.
A “frequent flyer” with dozens of encounters with law enforcement is hit with pepper foam and denied water, even as three Crisis Intervention Team-trained officers were on the scene.
MPD officers are suspended in connection with Black man’s rape allegations, posing fresh questions about controversial stop-and-frisk practices.
But the reforms amount to a hollow ruse, says activist who complained about an officer who shot and killed a Black man in 2013.
A federal lawsuit contends Memphis police sexually assaulted a Black man during a stop-and-frisk operation and then failed to properly investigate the incident. The suit cites evidence from a Daily Memphian allegation into MPD’s failure to refer brutality claims to prosecutors.
Officer Otto Kiehl received a 10-day suspension but the case is one of several serious incidents of police abuse not sent to prosecutors to weigh possible criminal charges.
Eric Kelly, a former Memphis Police Department detective who retired after admitting having sexual contact with a murder suspect, has been indicted on three felony counts.
PART THREE : Memphis cold case task force races clock to use long-forgotten evidence to pursue sex offenders before statute of limitations expires This week, the Institute for Public Service Reporting at The University of Memphis, in partnership with The Daily Memphian, reveals the results of its exclusive investigation into how more than 12,000 rape kits went untested and the impact that backlog has had on victims.
Day 2: The Institute for Public Service Reporting at The University of Memphis, in partnership with The Daily Memphian and WKNO-FM, reveals the results of its exclusive investigation into how more than 12,000 rape kits went untested and the impact that backlog has had on victims.
In part two of our investigation into the city's rape kit backlog, aging sexual assault victims contend MPD’s failure to investigate their cases has doubled their trauma. Also today:
The Institute for Public Service Reporting at The University of Memphis, in partnership with The Daily Memphian, reveals the results of its exclusive investigation into how more than 12,000 rape kits went untested and the impact that backlog has had on victims.
This week, the Institute for Public Service Reporting at The University of Memphis, in partnership with The Daily Memphian, reveals the results of its exclusive investigation into how more than 12,000 rape kits went untested and the impact that backlog has had on victims. When the Memphis Police Department confirmed in 2013 the discovery of an estimated 12,000 older rape kits, many never tested for DNA, Susanna Parkinson refused to refer to the long-ignored evidence as a “backlog.” Instead, Parkinson, who worked closely with MPD as a longtime sexual assault intervention specialist and victim advocate at the Rape Crisis Center, called it “The Mess” — a collection of haphazardly stored and discarded evidence, poor decisions, missed chances and even wanton indifference to sexual assault.
Beginning today, the Institute for Public Service Reporting at The University of Memphis, in partnership with The Daily Memphian, reveals the results of its exclusive investigation of “The Mess," the Memphis Police Department's mishandling of 12,000 rape kits.
A retired manager of the Memphis Police Department’s property and evidence room confirms sex crime records destruction in 1990’s purge.
A Memphis police officer's repeated use of a Taser headlines more questions about use of force at MPD and why the agency isn't referring cases for prosecutorial review.
A handcuffed prisoner is pepper sprayed in the face by an MPD officer in another case not referred to prosecutors to consider criminal charges.
TBI report paints a haunting portrait of Brandon Webber, but also poses troubling questions about law enforcement tactics behind his shooting death.
Questions surface as city officials limit access to police brutality files and sidestep requests for comment regarding excessive force.
The manual search through Memphis Police Department's excessive-force investigations is a slow and tedious process. But a recent search uncovered a file on the 2015 police beating of a suspect that reportedly wasn't referred to the Shelby County District Attorney's Office for review of the officers' conduct.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Brandon Webber offers a radically different narrative for his officer-involved shooting that stirred wide unrest in Memphis over police use of force.
Memphis City Council member JB Smiley is pushing a resolution to urge Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration to put data, complaints and other information regarding police misconduct and use of force on the city’s website.
In a demand letter to Sheriff Floyd Bonner, the ACLU and others allege that unsanitary conditions and inadequate preventative measures are jeopardizing the health of detainees in the jail.
As Mayor Jim Strickland vows to 'fix' police brutality against African American citizens, his staff puts up roadblocks to accessing records.
Nursing homes are among the hardest hit by the coronavirus - nearly four in ten deaths in Shelby County occurred in those facilities.
“At some point this pandemic will have run its course and we’ll get back to normal. ... Now, the question is when?’’