Radio reporter files for arrest injunction on sheriff

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025 – A radio investigative reporter suing Hamilton County to end what he calls “systemic false arrests” has filed for a temporary restraining order to force Sheriff Austin Garrett to get arrest warrants as the law requires. David Tulis of Eagle Radio Network says Garrett fails to account for the arrest warrant requirement in the Tennessee constitution and a state law that requires an arrest warrant for every alleged misdemeanor that is not a “public offense” or a “breach of the peace threatened.” Tulis is suing the county over his arrest and jailing Nov. 22, 2023, on radio station business. He is demanding a permanent injunction and an order to reform arrest practices. He’s also targeting the criminalization of traffic law violations that he says are subject to the Tennessee Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, and not criminally prosecutable generating on-the-spot arrests. His lawsuit is part of a Christian ministry seeking to protect the weak, minorities and the poor from what he calls “oppressive usages and abusages” by police and deputies. “If these people obey the warrant requirement and the limited exceptions law at T.C.A. 40-7-103, we will have as much as a 50 percent...