
Zack is a Floridian who graduated Magna Sum Laude from the University of Florida before interning at the Tampa Bay Times. He's also worked at the Valley News in Lebanon, N.H., and the Gainesville Sun in Florida. He covers courts for the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
A group of Hamilton County pastors called Monday for the immediate resignation of Sheriff Jim Hammond and two of his deputies seen in dashcam footage punching, kneeing and what might be body cavity searching a handcuffed black man.
by Zack PetersonCiting secret beatings, an untreated suicide attempt, a year of solitary confinement and limited access to legal materials, an attorney for one of three men facing a possible death penalty trial in the 2016 slaying of a state's witness said his client is being treated like a "death row prisoner" and is requesting a transfer out of the Hamilton County Jail.
by Zack PetersonChattanooga's NAACP is calling for accountability following the beating and body-cavity search of a black man by two white Hamilton County Sheriff's Office deputies on Wednesday.
by Zack Peterson and Rosana HughesAn African American citizen says two Hamilton County sheriff's deputies strip searched and hit him during a roadside traffic stop, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, FBI and others have been asked to look into the situation.
by Zack Peterson and Rosana HughesA retired, high-ranking Chattanooga police officer accused of helping cover up a rape allegation that are being investigated by multiple law enforcement agencies has been summoned before a federal grand jury.
by Zack PetersonJanet Hinds violated her conditions of release, must post bail on an increased bond, and will be subjected to one drug screen a week and two random ones a month, a judge ruled today.
by Zack Peterson and Rosana HughesThe Tennessee Office of Open Records Counsel confirmed earlier this week that a closed-door hearing for former East Ridge Police Chief J.R. Reed, who is contesting his termination, appears to be proper.
by Zack PetersonEast Ridge, Tennessee, officials held a closed-door hearing Tuesday for a former police chief who is contesting his firing from earlier this year.
by Zack PetersonA Chattanooga funeral home director is suing a cemetery, alleging that a headstone fell on her during a visit in 2018.
by Zack PetersonJanet Hinds will remain in jail without bond - at least for now - after allegations she violated her release conditions.
by Zack PetersonA 22-year-old woman's charge that she gave false information in a kidnapping and aggravated domestic assault case involving her ex-boyfriend has been sent to a Hamilton County grand jury.
by Zack PetersonFollowing an evidence dispute and an unsuccessful attempt to settle the case, lawyers with the Tennessee Attorney General's Office want to bring new civil claims against a Texas law firm accused of using coercive business practices with Woodmore Elementary School crash victims.
by Zack PetersonA Chattanooga man pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with a fatal 2016 club shooting and agreed to a 15-year prison sentence.
by Zack PetersonAn attorney for a former Hamilton County reserve deputy accused of being under the influence during a fatal car wreck wants to suppress any evidence obtained from a search warrant affidavit.
by Zack PetersonA 38-year-old woman charged with second-degree murder and the unlawful sale of fentanyl in a man's 2016 fatal overdose received a 25-year prison sentence Monday.
by Zack PetersonAttorneys have agreed to mediate in an alleged police brutality lawsuit brought earlier this year by a 37-year-old man who was punched and cursed at during a traffic stop in 2018.
by Zack PetersonThis fall, 18-year-old Harrison Stuart will attend Vanderbilt University, where he hopes to either study economics or enter a pre-medicine track.
by Zack PetersonA judge has dismissed a 33-year-old man's post-conviction petition in a 2010 robbery-turned-murder for a second time, but Unjolee Moore's advocates say they will continue to fight.
by Zack PetersonA defense attorney for the 26-year-old woman charged in a shooting incident that injured a Chattanooga police officer and a civilian said Tuesday it was accidental.
by Zack PetersonHamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston has been awarded the local NAACP's Thurgood Marshall Award in the area of law enforcement for civil rights and community activism.
by Zack Peterson