UPDATE: 

On December 10, 2025, Lemichael Wilson was summoned to the Memphis Police Department and coerced into viewing two short body camera clips totaling approximately ten seconds. One of those clips showed a Memphis police lieutenant using Mr. Wilson’s mother’s phone to photograph her unclothed, deceased body. This was presented as Mr. Wilson’s sole opportunity to view any portion of the footage. Although this would obviously be an emotionally distressing experience, he was denied the ability to have legal counsel present and was not permitted to see the footage in full or review it independently.

Those two brief clips represent only a fraction of more than three hours of existing body camera footage. The selective viewing excluded all context and the events leading up to the photograph being taken.

After Mr. Wilson was coerced into viewing these limited clips, he received a letter from the department, which the department claims was a reprint of correspondence sent months earlier. That letter states the department’s investigation concluded that no officer took the photograph. This directly contradicts what Mr. Wilson had just been shown on video, where an officer is clearly seen taking the photo with his mother’s phone.

For months, Mr. Wilson was told repeatedly that officers were not responsible for the photograph. Even after forcing him to view staged and highly restricted clips that plainly depict the officer taking the photo, the department continues to rely on a written conclusion that denies it ever occurred.

This leaves serious questions unanswered.
If the photograph was accidental, why were Mr. Wilson’s requests for review and investigation dismissed for months?
If the department now acknowledges video evidence showing an officer taking the photo, why did it previously deny this outright?
Why does the department still rely on a letter stating officers were not responsible?
Why was the photograph carefully framed, and why is the officer seen taking more than one photo?
Why was Mr. Wilson denied access to the complete body camera footage, including audio, from all officers involved?
Why was he spoken to continuously during the viewing, preventing him from hearing the audio from the footage itself?
And what else is contained in the remaining hours of footage that the department refuses to release?

The body camera footage is not tied to an active investigation. There is no legitimate justification for restricting Mr. Wilson to two selectively edited clips totaling ten seconds while withholding the full recordings from him and his legal counsel.

The Memphis Police Department could resolve this matter immediately by releasing the complete body camera footage. Instead, Mr. Wilson is left with more questions than answers and has yet to receive even a basic acknowledgment or apology.

If you would like to help support LeMichael Wilson and his family as they seek transparency and accountability following his mother’s death, please see the call to action below for actions you can take.

In the summer of 2025, paramedics were called to the home of LaJuanese Wilson Trannon. There, they would attempt to revive her, but she would be declared deceased. During the process, one of the responding individuals (it is unknown exactly whom) used the phone of the deceased to take a photo of her unclothed body. A photo the family of LaJuanese Wilson Trannon would later discover. Medications were also removed from her bedside table, making it impossible to determine if it was a reaction to her medication that caused her death.

Her son, LeMichael Wilson, went before the Memphis City Council asking for attention to be brought to this incident, and reforms put in place from preventing another family from being traumatized in such a manner. While the City Council was deeply sympathetic, no answers have been forthcoming from the Mayor or the Memphis Police Department. He has been denied access to body cam footage, has not been provided with the promised report, and has been consistently refused any sort of explanation or resolution.

Email Those Involved

An email template is below for your use if you wish to, respectfully, add your comments.

You can also simply click or tap on the email addresses to generate a pre-filled and addressed email, simply add your name to the end.

• Paul Young, Mayor of the City of Memphis, Tennessee – mayor@memphistn.gov
  
• Cerelyn J. Davis, Police Chief of the City of Memphis, Tennessee – policechief@memphistn.gov
• Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee Attorney General, cred@ag.tn.gov

Email Template

Subject: Transparency for Lemichael Wilson

Dear [City official’s Name]

I am writing to express my support for Mr. Lemichael Wilson in his efforts to discover why photos were taken of his mother’s unclothed, deceased body with her personal phone by Memphis police.

Mr. Wilson was coerced by the Memphis police department into viewing an approximately 10 second clip of over three hours of body cam footage of a lieutenant taking the picture which excluded all context and the events leading up to the photograph being taken. He was offered this one-and-only opportunity without the ability to bring legal counsel, see the footage in full, or review it independently.

After Mr. Wilson was coerced into viewing these limited clips, he received a letter from the department, which the department claims was a reprint of correspondence sent months earlier. That letter states the department’s investigation concluded that no officer took the photograph. This directly contradicts what Mr. Wilson had just been shown on video, where an officer is clearly seen taking the photo with his mother’s phone.

For months, Mr. Wilson was told repeatedly that officers were not responsible for the photograph. Even after forcing him to view staged and highly restricted clips that plainly depict the officer taking the photo, the department continues to rely on a written conclusion that denies it ever occurred.

I respectfully ask that you:

• Provide Mr. Wilson with the full body cam footage of all of the officers involved.
• Submit a formal written apology to the family of LaJuanese Wilson Trannon, the deceased.
• Conduct a policy review, followed by a public statement, to ensure that no other family has to suffer such a violation.

Thank you for considering my support for this matter. I trust that you will make a fair and compassionate decision to uphold the values of human respect and dignity in the community.

Respectfully submitted,

[Your Name]