EXCLUSIVE: Victim of Car Break-In Treated As a Criminal Speaks Out

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A Memphis musician is setting the record straight, accusing the police of treating him like a thug committing a crime and not the victim of one.

In an exclusive interview with KWAM Wednesday, Raheem Morrison, co-founder of a Christian hip-hop label, shared his side of the story after he and his cousin, Darval Washington, were the victims of a car break-in.

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Morrison and his cousin had just left the Visible Music College downtown when he saw the windows of his Kia Optima shattered to pieces.

But they noticed a teen was still inside the car trying to steal it.

“The kid jumps out of the car and I’m like ‘nobody’s ever robbed me and actually stayed here,” he told Wake Up Memphis.

They initially chose to try to de-escalate the situation.

“Wake Up Memphis” host Ben Deeter with Raheem Morrison at the KWAM studios.

“We’re both saying just leave, just leave,” he said. “The kid is still there and we’re like what is going on, like we’re telling you the damage is done, just get out of here.”

Morrison said the thief pulled a screwdriver on him. Washington, who is a registered gun owner, stepped in to protect his cousin and things escalated.

“The kid punched my cousin in the chest, bit his arm and the gun fell to the ground,” Morrison said.

“So when the gun fell to the ground, the kid had a laceration across his eye cause he hit the concrete trying to grab it,” he said. “As I reach for it, the gun went off. It went off away from our bodies so that’s how I knew nobody got hit.”

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Morrison said the police came and found them standing over the bloody thief when they detained them instead of the teenager.

Darval Washington

He said he sat in the back of a police car in handcuffs for three hours while waiting to speak to an officer.

Washington was charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.

LISTEN TO THE FULL EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RAHEEM MORRISON BELOW: 

KWAM’s Ben Deeter contributed to this report.


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