Rep. Justin Pearson said his brother was among protesters detained Thursday during a House floor session in Nashville after demonstrations broke out over a newly proposed congressional map that would split Memphis. Pearson posted videos on Facebook showing his brother being removed from the House chamber and taken to a law enforcement van to be booked by officers in Nashville.
Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers removed the protesters before Republicans passed the map, which would break up Memphis. In one of the videos, Pearson hugged his brother and told him he was proud of him before troopers appeared to take him away. Pearson said, in effect, that he was proud of him.
The detention came during a special session at the Tennessee Capitol, where the map became the focus of an increasingly charged fight over representation in the state. Pearson reported that at least one other person was also taken into custody, and Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers can be seen escorting people out of the chamber. No other information about his brother's detainment has been released.
The map now goes forward after the chamber cleared the protests, and the episode leaves Pearson's family in the middle of a political fight that reached from the House floor to a booking van outside.