My heart breaks watching Patrick Allen’s final moments in the hands of KPD officers, a situation that could have been easily prevented. Yet what we are up against is a mayor (and a city council) who has protected her officers, lied for her officers, and contributed to an ever worsening culture at KPD that makes our police believe they can do whatever they want, especially when dealing with Black and brown residents, the unhoused, or those with mental health challenges.

Accountability starts at the top. We will not begin to see a cultural shift at KPD, we will not begin to see better treatment of the most vulnerable in our city, until we have leadership in place that not only requires it but they model it and help to usher it forward.

Knoxville could have done so much over the past 6 years to improve policing for the most vulnerable in our city. Instead, we have had a mayor with an unhealthy level of loyalty to the police who has given the police just about everything they’ve asked for with little accountability while pointing as justification to the historically low crime rates that just about every city in the country is currently experiencing. I feel my words below from 2020 still ring true and now we add Patrick Allen to Knoxville’s shameful history of in-custody deaths alongside Ethel Beck (never forget!).

“This suffering caused by our institutions continues on a daily basis. I feel powerless to stop it. I’ve appealed to the mayor and she has doubled down in her support of the police.”

And the mayor continues to stand by her police force rather than hold them accountable, as evidenced by her failure to fire Chief Noel immediately after receiving the results of the investigation into those text messages. It starts at the top.

Knoxville’s I Can’t Breath Case: knoxtntoday.com/knoxvilles-i-cant-breathe-case-22-years-ago/

50 years after Ethel Beck's death, policing issues remain: knoxnews.com/story/opinion/2020/08/09/50-years-after-ethel-beck-death-policing-issues-remain/3301103001/

Aug 5, 2026 footage of Patrick Allen’s death while in KPD’s custody: youtu.be/T0CqXRfJpz4?is=P6mYn2eImyWvCYIy


Amelia Parker  is a Member of the Knoxville City Council, At-Large Seat C Representative, serving all residents in the city of Knoxville.