Appeals court upholds ruling against Beale Street sweeps
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A federal appeals court has upheld a judge’s ruling that Memphis could no longer conduct sweeps to clear people off Beale Street unless public safety requires it.
The Commercial Appeal reports that a three-member panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued its ruling Monday to uphold U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla’s decision.
When McCalla issued his ruling in 2015, it ostensibly ended a long-running police practice in which officers “sweep” Beale Street to clear people off or push them into clubs, usually in the early morning hours of weekends.
The city appealed McCalla’s decision to the federal appeals court.
The case began when two men who said they had been caught up in two such sweeps sued.
