South Inglewood Park sits directly in the middle of East Nashville, just down a hill from Inglewood Elementary and Metro’s South Inglewood Community Center. The playground and walking paths are amenities that might anchor the gentrifying neighborhood. Instead, two recent arrests have sparked debate about using police power against people living outside.
Advocacy groups Open Table Nashville and Inglewood Mutual Aid have spoken out against the arrests, which came with felony charges for camping on public property — a 2022 state law that can carry prison time, fines and various forms of felony disenfranchisement. State troopers arrested at least 10 individuals at Riverfront park in late 2024 under the statute, the last major incident that leveled felony camping charges.
Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk has publicly criticized the penalty, though state law has narrowed his discretion; another state statute threatens to replace local DAs who disregard state law with special prosecutors.
“I never prosecute these cases as felonies,” Funk tells the Scene. “If someone becomes a convicted felon, they can never rent an apartment anywhere in the state.”
Both individuals arrested at South Inglewood Park will likely end their legal saga with misdemeanors. Both could have the charge fully dismissed after going through shelter court with Judge Lynda Jones — a specialty court for people experiencing homelessness.
State troopers take in 10 unhoused people around Riverfront Park
“This is a cruel and unjust punishment for simply existing,” says India Pungarcher of Open Table in an Instagram post alongside the organization's co-founder Lindsey Krinks. “Especially during a housing crisis and this heatwave.”
“Today we’re calling on the mayor’s office, MNPD and all officers across Tennessee and beyond to stop punishing people who need housing and support,” adds Krinks.
Alex Bilbrey moved across the street from the park’s central pavilion in May. He says he regularly witnessed drug dealing and solicitation of sex work in the pavilion and a nearby parking lot. Bilbrey first emailed Councilmember Emily Benedict for guidance, and says he reached out to both park police and the Metro Nashville Police Department multiple times before the arrests over the weekend.
“I think mental health and drug policies are terrible in Tennessee, and there’s no support for these people, or at least not enough,” Bilbrey says on a rainy Monday, hours after one of the individuals arrested appeared in a downtown courthouse. “I also don’t think being unhoused should result in a felony. At the end of the day, I don’t think my neighbors and I should have to deal with that stuff, and it’s a shame that it was going on, and I don’t think there were any real winners here.”
The defendant who prompted Bilbrey’s calls, Joe Williams, was not charged with any criminal behavior related to drugs, violence or prostitution — only outdoor camping and evading arrest when he attempted to leave the park in the presence of police officers. Williams, who is Black, was also tased by MNPD.
“I’m curious why Metro is investing all these resources into effectively criminalizing homelessness,” Alissa Heydari, Williams’ attorney, tells the Scene. “I’m a former prosecutor, I’m all about public safety, and I don’t know what we’re doing — charging people and spending money to process these cases. We have so many bigger problems.”
Inglewood Mutual Aid formed just weeks before Bilbrey moved to the area. Michael Durham has volunteered with the group, which hosted a recent potluck at South Inglewood Park, to help pool resources and connect people in the neighborhood with different types of support.
Durham lives nearby and remembers talking with Williams, who he says welcomed the group to the park’s pavilion, before the arrest. Durham and his mutual aid colleagues are worried that the public sees policing as a way to exercise power over unhoused people.
“As far as we know, the Metro police almost never arrest people for this, and it was a departure from their policy that they did this time,” Durham tells the Scene. “This is the housing crisis meeting its ultimate conclusion. When people cannot afford housing, people have to survive on their own terms. They have to exist somewhere. Arresting folks only makes their ability to find stable housing or a stable job more difficult.”
