Three of four men who say they were wrongly arrested by Memphis police have charges dropped

Three of the four men who said they were wrongly arrested by the Memphis Police Department in late May have had their charges dropped, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said Tuesday morning.

Jamil Ibrahim, Moamen Saad Hijaz, Ibrahim Mahmoud and Salim Ibrahim were all arrested May 27. Hijaz, Mahmoud and Salim Ibrahim were all charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, and Jamil Ibrahim was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault on a first responder.

Mahmoud had his charges dropped by prosecutors at his arraignment May 30, and Hijaz and Salim Ibrahim had their charges dropped by Tuesday. Hijaz and Salim Ibrahim were due in court June 29, alongside Jamil Ibrahim — who was the only person to not have charges dropped.

"Frankly, based on our staff's review of the video and what we've found so far, we have some concerns about both Mr. [Jamil] Ibrahim's behavior in the altercation, and then also the arresting officers' behavior," Mulroy said at a press conference. "We're going to be continuing to investigate all of that, so we can't make a final decision yet."

Mulroy said the charges against Jamil Ibrahim could be dropped in the future.

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Mulroy said he had spoken with MPD Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis about the arrest, and said an internal investigation is underway into "the way the various police officers involved handled that incident."

The four brothers were arrested after they say Jamil Ibrahim called the police regarding a bag of bullets found behind their warehouse at Winchester Road and Kirby Parkway. When police arrived, an officer spelled Jamil Ibrahim's name as "Jamal Ibrahim" and a different person, who had an active warrant for their arrest, came up, family said.

The affidavit for Jamil Ibrahim's May 27 arrest cited a different warrant, one that had already been executed by MPD in December 2022 for an aggravated assault and domestic assault case. Ibrahim has made every court appearance in that case.

MPD said on May 28 that the incident was "under review by precinct commanders." MPD did not respond at the time of publication to The CA's questions asking if the officers who arrested the brothers were currently on duty.

According to the police affidavit for Jamil Ibrahim, written by Officer Christopher Wilson, the responding officer — referred to only as Officer Jefferson, who is the "victim" in the affidavit — called for additional units after the warrant popped up.

"...At which time [Jamil Ibrahim] became belligerent," the affidavit read. "[Jefferson] attempted to detain [Ibrahim] and place him in handcuffs due to his uncooperative behavior. As [Jefferson] attempted to cuff the suspect, he resisted her by pushing [Jefferson] and attempting to pull away from her. During the ensuing altercation, [Jefferson's] watch and fingernail were damaged."

When other officers arrived on the scene and went to help Jefferson detain Ibrahim, the affidavit said Ibrahim still tried to pull away. An additional officer, Officer Moore, said Ibrahim "lunged" at him, and he "responded by striking [Ibrahim] in the forehead with his right fist, stunning [Ibrahim]."

Video taken by bystanders at the warehouse, and shown to reporters from The Commercial Appeal, showed Ibrahim holding his arms behind his back when a female officer appeared to try and handcuff him by wrapping her arms around him.

When another officer entered the warehouse, the two officers appeared to grab Ibrahim's arms and push him into boxes. As the officers appeared to continue trying to handcuff Ibrahim, a male officer appeared to punch Ibrahim on the head and later appeared to place his hands around Ibrahim's throat.

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Another bystander also appeared in the video to try and break up the officers and Ibrahim, but was pushed away.

The three other brothers who were each charged with disorderly conduct each have similar affidavits. Mahmoud and Salim Ibrahim both had identical affidavits written, both saying the men were interfering with the investigation and "causing a disturbance."

Hijaz's affidavit was slightly different from the other two, and said he was told "multiple times by officers to remain in the designated area while officers conducted an investigation," but he "began to approach officers in an aggressive manner, yelling and screaming."

Jamil Ibrahim, after being arrested, was taken to Regional One Hospital and given stitches on his forehead, family said.

According to family, two of the men, Hijaz and Salim Ibrahim, were arrested for filming officers as they arrested Jamil Ibrahim.

Family members, joined by about 20 other people at a protest outside of the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar, called for the release of the four men the night of their arrest and continued protesting throughout that weekend.

"I'll never call the cops again," Mahmoud told a reporter from The CA at a May 28 protest outside of the Ridgeway Precinct, where the officers involved were allegedly stationed. "Now, I'm afraid for my life and for anybody else that's around me. They're taking their power overboard. [Police's] power is to protect people, not to go in there and assault them...If they're doing it to me, they're going to do it to you...They're going to do it to him. It's not going to stop."

Reporters Dima Amro and Gina Butkovich contributed to this report.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby Co. drops charges against 3 of 4 men arrested by Memphis police