Justin Pearson Refuses to Celebrate Columbus Day

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

From the Principal Toyota Studios, it's Morning in Memphis with Todd Starnes.

Todd Starnes (0:07)

And hello, everybody. It is going to be another beautiful day here in the Mid-South. Great to have you with us, and thank you for making the Mighty 990 your choice as we get through what is a very busy news day, and really a pretty busy news cycle here, and not just in Mid-South, but around the nation today. Also, happy National M&M Day. Whether you like the M&M's peanut or plain or almond or whatever flavor they have, today is the day to celebrate by eating M&M's. So we'll be taking your calls. Are you a peanut or plain M&M fan?

901-260-5926, our telephone number, that's 901-260-5926.

Lot of news happening, and we're gonna give you the very latest on this crazy story that happened over the weekend. And it's a disturbing story involving five people who were killed, five young people. And we're talking about kids in their very early 20s who were killed when they collided with a police cruiser. This happening over the weekend, five people killed, three injured, including two cops. And Fox 13 obtained a surveillance video that showed the crash as it happened. And there's a lot of debate now. By the way, this happened at Hickory Hill Road and East Rains Road, an intersection that has had a number, a number of car accidents. Police said that the officers were actually responding to a shooting. The individual at the shooting actually died. So they were on their way, lights, lights and sirens blaring. And they, the patrol car, blew through the intersection. Now, the question is, and this is going to be for the Tennessee Highway Patrol, what was the, what was the, the light, was the light green? Was it red? It doesn't really matter because under Tennessee law, if a police car has lights and sirens going, they control the roadways at that point. So the question then becomes, and there was no attempt for anybody to slow down. Police, they were flying to the crime scene as they were legally allowed to do. So I don't see any negligence on the part of the, of the police department here.

But the question then becomes, okay, did the car slow down? And the other car did not slow down. So they may not have heard the sirens, may not have seen the lights, which is possible. I mean, if you're, if you've got a car full of kids and they're out on a, you know, late at night, probably listening to music, probably just didn't hear anything because there was no attempt to slow down based on the surveillance video that I saw. So I'm very curious to hear your thoughts here. But again, under Tennessee law, the police have the right of way, especially if they are on their way to a crime that is happening in real time. And that's what was going on over the weekend. This happened early, early Sunday morning around 12, 12, 30 a.m. We understand the two police officers were injured there out of the hospital. The last person in the car, so the five, there were six people in the vehicle, five people dead and the sixth is still in critical condition at the hospital. So that's all the information we have right now.

And when I tell you, this police department, they do not like to release information. You really have to poke in pride to get the intel. And there's just not a lot coming out about this. Last night, there was a, there was an incident involving a Memphis police cruiser hitting a pedestrian.

So we're following that story as well. That happened on Austin P Highway between Coleman and Jones Road. Police say the pedestrian entered the roadway and was struck by the vehicle. I will just say this only because it's fresh on my mind. Every, I will just, you know, I will just say this when it comes to motorists here in the Mid-South. They don't pay any attention at all to any rules on the roadways, period. And I'll just tell you, on the way in this morning, almost got sideswiped by a car that was coming off the I-240, you know, that loop there on the Poplar. And people just don't care. And they do not pay attention to the roadways. They don't pay attention to speed limit. And as a result, it is a very dangerous thing to be on Memphis roadways. I mean, that's just the reality of it. So anyway, if you want to weigh in on that, but just a horribly tragic story, five young people out and, you know, doing what young people do on a weekend night, having a good time, and they lost their lives. So there you go, 901-260-5926, our telephone number, that's 901-260-5926.