US police unit disbanded following fatal beating
‘Scorpion’ officers accused of second-degree murder as video shows dying black victim crying for mother
A SPECIALISED police unit in the city of Memphis in Tennessee has been disbanded after its “unchecked pattern of excessive force” was blamed for the death of a black man, Tyre Nichols.
Mr Nichols, 29, was stopped by officers from the “Scorpion” unit, who allegedly pinned him down and took turns kicking and punching him.
The encounter began after Mr Nichols was pulled over for suspected reckless driving on Jan 7. It ended with his death in hospital three days later.
An autopsy commissioned by the Nichols family found he “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating”. The officers involved – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr and Justin Smith – face charges of kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, in addition to second-degree murder. They were all part of the “Scorpion” unit.
Memphis police chief Cerelyn Davis last night disbanded the specialised crime-fighting unit, reversing an earlier statement that she would keep the unit intact. Ms Davis said she had changed course after listening to Mr Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and other officers not involved in his death. The police chief said “the heinous actions of a few” had cast “a cloud of dishonour” on the unit. “It is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit,” she said. She said the officers currently assigned to the unit agreed “unreservedly” with the step.
Nichols’s death has been likened to the killing of George Floyd, whose 2020 murder by police sparked nationwide unrest.
Yesterday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets across the US after footage of Mr Nichols’s beating was released by Memphis police.
Scorpion, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, was formed little more than a year ago with the aim of tackling the city’s surging violent crime.
The unit of 40 officers was intended to increase police presence in high-crime neighbourhoods.
Only a day earlier, Ms Davis, had suspended the entire unit pending an investigation but continued to defend its “great success” in fighting crime.
She said: “They did good work. This group, we believe, went off the rails that night. People want to throw the baby out with the bath water.”
City officials have cited a number of statistics to highlight the unit’s success. During its brief existence, Scorpion has arrested more than 2,000 violent felons and recovered 800 illegal guns.
At the same time, Memphis has seen its first reduction in homicides and vio
‘No mother should go through what I am going through, to lose their child to the violent way that I lost my child’
lent crime in four years. However, Ben Crump, a lawyer for the Nichols family, said the death was not an isolated incident, claiming Scorpion officers had used excessive force in other cases.
“We believe that this was a pattern and practice and that Tyre is dead because this pattern and practice went unchecked,” he said.
They said the footage showed him being “terrorised” by Scorpion officers who acted “like a pack of wolves”.
“This Scorpion unit was set up under the guise of crime-fighting,” said Antonio Romanucci, another lawyer representing the Nichols family. “The intent was good. The end result was a failure.”
Joe Biden, the US president, said he was “outraged and deeply pained” after watching the footage, saying it “will leave people justifiably outraged”.
Police body camera footage shows the officers using a string of expletives as they haul Mr Nichols from his car and pin him to the ground.
One officer tells him he will get “blown out”. “I didn’t do anything... I’m just trying to go home,” Mr Nichols says.
The officers order him to lay on his stomach and spray him in the face with a chemical and appear to deploy a stun gun on him. Mr Nichols tells them: “I am on the ground. You guys are really doing a lot right now.” During the confrontation, Mr Nichols breaks free and scrambles to his feet. As police give chase, one officer says: “I hope they stomp his ass. I hope they stomp his ass.” A separate video shows the moment officers catch up to Mr Nichols again and beat him.
Two officers can be seen in the video holding him down, as a third one kicks him and a fourth delivers blows with what appears to be a rod before another punches Mr Nichols. Within a threeminute period, Mr Nichols appears to have been kicked repeatedly in the face, beaten with a baton at least three times and punched in the head six times.
He can be heard repeatedly screaming, “Mom! Mom!” as he struggles with officers. He was just 80 yards from home at the time.
RowVaughn Wells, his mother, said: “No mother should go through what I am going through right now, to lose their child to the violent way that I lost my child.” She described her “beautiful son” and his love of photography, skateboarding and, in particular, sunsets, which he was out enjoying before he was “beaten to a pulp”.
At a tearful press conference, Ms Wells addressed the five police officers involved, telling them: “You disgraced your own families when you did this.”
Mr Crump compared the incident to the police beating of Rodney King, which sparked riots in Los Angeles in 1991.
“I’m just sad for where we are in America; we’re still here,” Lora King, Rodney’s daughter, said yesterday. “We have to do better,” she told CNN. “This is unacceptable.”
Mr Crump noted how swiftly action was taken in the case of these officers, all of whom are black.
“We have never seen swift justice like this,” Mr Crump said. Police initially said Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving and “an altercation” ensued.
However, Ms Davis said the department has not yet found any evidence to support claims Mr Nichols was driving recklessly.
The police body camera and other surveillance footage released on Friday did not show the events leading up to Mr Nichols being stopped.