Thomas Massengale Battle Jr. (born December 3, 1955) is an American businessman serving as the 67th mayor of Huntsville, Alabama.
Battle left the city council to run for mayor, losing in a run-off against Democratic candidate Steve Hettinger in 1988.
[15] In 2015, Battle asked the city to buy body cameras for the Huntsville Police Department, at a cost of $1.2 million.
[16] Battle favored the city-wide of expansion of ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft in the city, and rewrote the vehicle for hire ordinance to allow their operation.
"[20][21] In April 2018,[22] a rookie[23] Huntsville Police officer, William Darby, shot and killed a suicidal man within 11 seconds[24] of arriving at a call.
[33] Fifteen Huntsville-area organizations,[34] including the Alabama chapters of Southern Christian Leadership Conference and NAACP Youth Council, have denounced Mayor Battle's handling of the George Floyd protest that occurred in and around Big Spring Park on June 3, 2020.
[35] Huntsville Police along with SWAT and Incident Response Team[36] used tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets to end the protest.
[37][38] Following the murder conviction of William Darby, political groups[39] and politicians[40] called for mayor Battle to resign.
[41] Locals also made an online petition calling for the resignations of Battle and the Huntsville Police Chief Mark McMurray.
[citation needed] In May 2021, a Huntsville civil rights group, Rosa Parks Day Committee, also called for the resignations of Battle and McMurray.