Photo: EDUARDO MUNOZ / AFP / Getty Images
The head of the Police Department of Memphis disbanded the so-called “Scorpion” unit of that city agency on Saturday, citing a “cloud of disgrace” after the video showing some of his officers brutally beating a Tyre Nichols and causing injuries resulting in his death, after stopping the African-American motorist at a traffic stop.
The name of that special unit of the Memphis police in Spanish would be “Operation of Street Crimes to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhood. In English: Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhood (SCORPION) and was created by the Memphis Police in 2021 with the objective of reducing violence in the neighborhoods of the city that suffer it the most.
Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis took action one day after harrowing video of the arrest surfaced and said he heard from Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and officials not involved in making the decision.
Just a day earlier, the Memphis police chief had defended that unit, saying it “did a good job” but this particular group “went off the rails that night.”
Nichols, a 29-year-old African-American man, was pulled over by police officers with that unit while driving in early January.
Video footage released Friday night captured what happened next, showing officers beating an unarmed Nichols, who screamed for his mother during the beating.
After, the videos show, officers conversed among themselves as a bloodied Nichols leaned against a car, waiting minute after agonizing minute for an ambulance to arrive which arrived 22 minutes after police said he was in custody.
Nichols died from injuries sustained three days after his arrest.
Five officers involved, all African-American, have been fired from the Memphis police and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and other charges.
Nichols’ arrest and the violent beating that led to his death have shocked many in the United States who have taken to the streets since Friday to demand justice.
Protesters who marched in Memphis on Friday Nichols’ death was ruled a murder and other protests were held across the United States from Los Angeles to New York.
Protest demonstrations against police abuse have already been held in several cities on Saturday.