The Memphis police chief disbanded the city's so-called Scorpion unit on Saturday, citing a "cloud of dishonor" from the newly released video that showed some of its officers apparently beating Tyre Nichols to death after stopping the black motorist on January 7.
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Police Director Cerelyn Davis acted a day after the harrowing video emerged, saying she listened to Nichols' relatives, community leaders, and uninvolved officers in making the decision. Her announcement came as the nation and the city struggled to come to grips with the violence of the officers, who are also black. The video renewed doubts about why fatal encounters with law enforcement keep happening despite repeated calls for change. "It is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit," she said in a statement. She said the officers currently assigned to it agreed "unreservedly."
Cities nationwide had braced for demonstrations after the video emerged, but protests were scattered and nonviolent. Protestors marching through downtown Memphis cheered when they heard the unit had been dissolved. Protesters also blocked traffic in New York City, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon.
The unit is composed of three teams of about 30 officers whose stated aim is to target violent offenders in areas beset by high crime. It had been inactive since Nichols' Jan. 7 arrest. Scorpion stands for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods.
The five disgraced officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith – have been fired and charged with murder and other crimes in Nichols' death, which came three days after the arrest. They face up to 60 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.
The video images released Friday show police savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes while screaming profanities at him. Nichols calls out for his mother before his limp body is propped against a squad car and the officers exchange fist-bumps.
The video also left many unanswered questions about the traffic stop and about other law enforcement officers who stood by as Nichols lay motionless on the pavement. "Nobody tried to stop anything. They have a duty to intervene, a duty to render care," Brenda Goss Andrews, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, said in an interview after viewing the video. She also was struck by the immediate aggression from officers as soon as they got out of the car: "It just went to 100. ... This was never a matter of de-escalation," Goss Andrews said, adding, "The young man never had a chance from the moment that he was stopped." Rodney Wells, Nichols' stepfather, said the family would "continue to seek justice" and those who failed to render aid are "just as culpable as the officers who threw the blows."
After the first officer roughly pulls Nichols out of the car, Nichols can be heard saying, "I didn't do anything," as a group of officers begins to wrestle him to the ground. One is heard yelling, "Tase him! Tase him!" Nichols calmly says, "OK, I'm on the ground," and that he was just trying to go home. Moments later, he yells at them to "stop." Nichols is then seen running as an officer fires a Taser. The officers start chasing Nichols. Others are called, and a search ensues before Nichols is caught at another intersection. His mother's home, where he lived, was only a few houses away, and his family said he was trying to get there. The officers beat him with a baton, and kick and punch him. The attack continues even after he collapses. It takes more than 20 minutes afterward before any sort of medical attention is provided. During the wait for an ambulance, officers joke and air grievances. They complain that a handheld radio was ruined, that someone lost a flashlight, and that multiple officers were caught in the pepper spray used against Nichols.
It's not clear why the traffic stop happened in the first place. One officer can be heard on video saying that Nichols wouldn't stop and then swerved as though he intended to hit the officer's car. The officer says that when Nichols pulled up to a red light, the officers jumped out. But Davis said the department cannot substantiate the reason for the stop. "We don't know what happened," she said, adding, "All we know is the amount of force that was applied in this situation was over the top."Throughout the videos, they make claims about Nichols' behavior that are not supported by the footage or that the district attorney and other officials say did not happen. In one, an officer claims that during the initial traffic stop, Nichols reached for the officer's gun and almost had his hand on the handle, something not shown in the video. After Nichols is in handcuffs and leaning against a police car, several officers say he must have been high. Later one says no drugs were found in Nichols' car, and another immediately counters that he must have ditched something while running away.
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday said the footage "was perhaps not totally conclusive but, to me, it was pretty conclusive and it was vicious and violent and hard to believe – over a traffic violation," he said. He described the brutal beating as "horrible" and that the attack "never should have happened."
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