Former Memphis detective, coach was part of King conspiracy theories

Former Memphis detective, coach was part of King conspiracy theories
By Michael Lollar
Memphis Commercial Appeal
November 27, 2012
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/nov/27/former-memphis-detective-coach-was-part-of-king/

Fayette-Ware High School track coach Ed Redditt flips through one of his scrapbooks Monday. These scrapbooks tell of the coaches’ life in athletics, law enforcement and politics.

Fayette-Ware High School track coach Ed Redditt flips through one of his scrapbooks Monday. These scrapbooks tell of the coaches’ life in athletics, law enforcement and politics.
Edward E. Redditt

Fayette-Ware High School track coach Ed Redditt flips through one of his scrapbooks Monday. These scrapbooks tell of the coaches’ life in athletics, law enforcement and politics.

Ed Redditt was a police detective assigned to the security detail for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, but two hours before King’s death, Mr. Redditt was removed from the detail and told that he had to leave because of a death threat against him.

He was escorted from his post at the fire station just south of the Lorraine Motel, and learned later that day of King’s assassination. His removal from the scene just before the sniper attack left suspicions in his mind, and turned him into a focal point of conspiracy investigations and dozens of books about the civil rights leader’s death.

Mr. Redditt, 81, of Somerville, died Sunday at Saint Francis Hospital in Bartlett after a weeklong bout with pneumonia. His son, Kelvin Redditt of Paris, Tenn., said his father had been a survivor of leukemia for about 15 years.

Until recently, Kelvin Redditt said, his father worked as athletic director of Fayette County schools and as a volunteer cross-county running coach for students at Fayette Central Elementary School.

“He was a participant in the senior Olympics. He would get the gold medal nine times out of ten and was ranked No. 2 in the nation at one point,” his son said. Most of Mr. Redditt’s wins were in the 100- and 200-meter dash.

In interviews through the years, Mr. Redditt said he had suspicions about being taken out of the King security detail in 1968, but he had no proof of a conspiracy. His son said those suspicions were not something shared with his family. “That’s one of those things he never discussed. He said if he got frustrated, he’d go off somewhere and scream at the top of his lungs. He didn’t want to bring home any stress.”

Retired police officer Vince Hughes, who kept an archive of most aspects of the King investigation, said he has been contacted by news organizations around the world asking about Mr. Redditt’s removal from the scene just before the shooting. Hughes said his research showed there was a death threat but, . “As it turns out, the death threat was against another policeman at another police department outside the city.”

Still, like Mr. Redditt, Hughes said some questions may never be answered. “There are things that can be explained with the pure, simple flow of the way things went normally, but there are also huge modifications that seem to be an irregularity, and Ed’s involvement seems to be one of those events.” Records of the federal investigation into the case have been sealed for 50 years.

In 1974, Mr. Redditt was honored by the Memphis Beat the Odds committee for his work with and for children. In the 1960s, he had founded one of the city’s first day care centers (Riverview-Kansas Day Care), “to help welfare mothers leave welfare and get a job.” Redditt opened the center with a flair, including a choir from Rev. Benjamin Hook’s Detroit church and legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in a benefit concert.

As a coach, he enlisted former Olympic runners to help train students to compete in Amateur Athletic Union and U.S.A. Track and Field competitions.

Mr. Redditt donated his body to science, but his son said there will be a memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Fayette-Ware High School Gym, 13520 Highway 59, in Somerville. In lieu of flowers, Mr. Redditt asked that friends donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

He also leaves sons Marc Obles and Edward Redditt Jr. of Phoenix, Ariz.; two daughters, Alyce’ Brooks of Chattanooga and Denise Brooks of Memphis; stepsons Brad Barton of Louisiana and Bric Barton of Horn Lake, Miss., and stepdaughters Linda Barton of Southaven and Derri Smith of Collierville.