PEARSON VOTE: Republican Commissioners Faced Serious Safety Concerns

EXCLUSIVE: There were significant concerns about the safety of Republican members of the Shelby County Commission at today’s vote on whether or not to reinstate ex-Rep. Justin Pearson, Democrat and Republican sources tell KWAM.

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The nature of the safety concern was not made clear — but there were loud and boisterous protestors in the streets of Memphis.

And at least one Republican commissioner was told it might not be in their best interest to stay for the vote, KWAM has learned.

Another source said there were not enough deputies present to handle the large crowd that had gathered inside and outside the building.

There were requests for Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner to send more deputies to handle crowd control. Our sources say there were only four deputies on hand to protect the commissioners — not nearly enough.

Ultimately, no Republicans stayed for the vote and Pearson was reinstated to his post 7-0.