Shelby County Commissioner Henri Brooks was charged Thursday, June 12, with assault after a Memphis police investigation of a parking lot argument over a parking space involving Brooks.
Before Brooks was charged Thursday, the Shelby County District Attorney General’s office requested that police forward any report they make to a special prosecutor appointed by the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference.
The reason is the budget for the prosecutor’s office is voted on by the Shelby County Commission.
Garry Brown, the district attorney general for the judicial district that takes in Crockett, Gibson and Haywood counties in West Tennessee, was named special prosecutor Thursday afternoon.
It will be Brown’s call on whether to pursue the charges.
A police incident report says Brooks and another woman were both pulling into a parking space at Methodist University Hospital Wednesday, June 11. Brooks got the space and, according to the report, confronted the other woman, began yelling racial slurs, snatched a cellphone away from her and poured water on her.
Brooks works for the hospital. She is also running as the Democratic nominee for Juvenile Court clerk.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party was jailed Wednesday on an arrest warrant for not paying a fine in General Sessions Environmental Court.
Bryan Carson posted on Facebook Wednesday evening that his arrest was “ironic,” given the party’s recent judicial endorsements.
“I am headed to jail for this! Democrats please stand up! Vote! Our leadership is tainted. I’m literally posting this in cuffs.”
General Sessions Court records show Carson was arrested on a bench warrant that was issued Feb. 3 for “failure to pay county fine.” He was not arrested at that time.
Carson was released on his own recognizance Wednesday evening and made a court appearance Thursday morning.