Memphis police disband unit that fatally beat Tyre Nichols

Memphis, Tennessee. On Saturday, the Memphis police chief disbanded the city’s so-called Scorpion Unit, citing a “cloud of shame” from a recently released video of some of his officers beating Tyre Nichols to death after pulling over a black motorist.

Police Director Serelyn “CJ” Davis came forward a day after the heartbreaking video surfaced, saying she listened to Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and third-party officers when making her decision. Her statement came as the nation and city struggled to deal with violence from officers who are also black. The video renewed doubts as to why lethal clashes with law enforcement continue to occur despite repeated calls for change.

Protesters marching through downtown Memphis cheered when they learned the unit had been disbanded. One protester said through a bullhorn that “the unit that killed Tyr has been definitively disbanded.”

Citing the “disgusting actions of a few people” that dishonored the unit, Davis denied an earlier claim that she would keep the unit. She said it was critical that the department “take active steps in the recovery process.”

“It is in everyone’s interest to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit,” the statement said. She said the officers currently assigned agreed “without reservation.”

The unit consists of three teams of approximately 30 officers whose stated purpose is to go after violent criminals in high crime areas. He has not worked since Nichols’ arrest on January 7.

Scorpion stands for street crime operations to restore peace in our neighborhoods.

In an interview with The Associated Press Friday, Davis said she would not close the unit if a few officers did “some egregious act” and because she needed it to continue working.

“The whole idea that the Scorpion unit is a bad unit, I just have a problem with it,” Davis said at the time.

Davis became the first black female executive in Memphis a year after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. At the time, she was a superintendent in Durham, North Carolina and called for sweeping police reforms.

Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, attorneys for the Nichols family, said the move was “a worthy and fair decision.”

“We must remember that this is just the next step on the road to justice and accountability, as it is clear that this misconduct is not limited to these special units. It extends much further,” they said.

Five disgraced officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith – were fired and charged with murder and other crimes related to Nichols’ death, which occurred three days after his arrest. They face up to 60 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

Video images released Friday show police brutally beating a 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes while yelling profanity at him in an attack that the Nichols family legal team compared to the infamous 1991 police beating of a Los Angeles motorist. Angeles Rodney King. Nichols calls for his mother before his limp body hits the patrol car and the officers exchange fist blows.

The video also left many questions unanswered about the traffic stop and other law enforcement officers who stood by as Nichols lay motionless on the sidewalk.

“No one tried to stop anything. They have a duty to intervene, a duty to care,” said Brenda Goss Andrews, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Officers, in an interview after watching the video.

She was also struck by the immediate aggression from the officers as soon as they got out of the car: “He just went up to 100… It was never a matter of de-escalation,” Goss Andrews said, adding: “Young man has never had a chance since how he was stopped.

Davis said other officers were under investigation, and Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said two of his deputies were relieved of duty without pay while their conduct was being investigated.

Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said the family would “continue to seek justice” and those who did not provide assistance were “just as guilty as the officers who delivered the hits”.

A Memphis police spokesman declined to comment on the behavior of other officers.

Cities across the country braced for demonstrations after the video emerged, but the protests were scattered and non-violent. Several dozen demonstrators in Memphis blocked the Interstate 55 bridge, which carries traffic across the Mississippi River towards Arkansas. Protesters also blocked traffic in New York, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.

Blake Ballin, Mills’ lawyer, told AP on Saturday that the videos “raised as many questions as they answered.”

Some of them will focus on what Mills “knew and what he could see” as well as “whether his actions crossed lines that other officers crossed during this incident,” Ballin said.

Davis acknowledged that the police department lacked monitors and said that the lack of a monitor at the time of the arrest was “a major problem”. City officials have promised to provide more.

It is not clear why the traffic stopped at all. In the video, one officer can be heard saying that Nichols didn’t stop and then swerved as if he was about to crash into the officer’s car. The officer says that when Nichols stopped at a red light, the cops jumped out.

But Davis said the department could not provide a reason for the stoppage.

“We don’t know what happened,” she said, adding, “All we know is that the force that was used in this situation was excessive.”

After the first officer roughly hauls Nichols out of the car, Nichols can be heard saying “I didn’t do anything” as a group of officers begin to wrestle him on the ground.

One of them can be heard shouting: “Drag him! Feel it!”

Nichols calmly says, “Okay, I’m on the ground,” and that he was just trying to get home. Moments later, he yells at them to “stop”.

Nichols is then seen running as the officer fires the taser. The officers begin to pursue Nichols.

Others are called and a search begins before Nichols is caught at another intersection. His mother’s house, where he lived, was only a few houses away, and his family said he was trying to get there.

The officers beat him with clubs, kicks and fists. The attack continues even after he loses consciousness.

After that, it takes more than 20 minutes before any medical assistance is provided.

While waiting for an ambulance, employees joke and express dissatisfaction. They complain that the portable radio was damaged, that someone lost a flashlight, that several officers were hit with pepper spray used against Nichols.

Throughout the videos, they make statements about Nichols’ behavior that are not supported by the footage or that the DA and other officials say did not happen. In one of them, the officer claims that during the first traffic stop, Nichols reached for the officer’s pistol and almost grabbed the handle with his hand, which is not visible on the video.

After Nichols is leaned against the police car in handcuffs, several police officers say he must have been high. Later, one says that no drugs were found in Nichols’ car, while the other immediately retorts that he must have thrown something while running away.

During a speech Saturday in Harlem, Reverend Al Sharpton said the beating was especially egregious because the officers were also black.

“Your blackness will not prevent us from fighting you. These five cops have not only dishonored their name, they have dishonored our race,” Sharpton said.