Memphis Police Disbands Unit Whose Officers Were Charged in Tyre Nichols’s Death

MEMPHIS — The Memphis Police Division mentioned on Saturday that it had disbanded a specialised group of officers often called the Scorpion unit after 5 of its members have been charged with second-degree homicide within the dying of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was proven on video being kicked, struck and pepper-sprayed by officers.

Mr. Nichols’s household and activists within the metropolis had demanded that the Police Division dismantle the unit, which deployed officers to patrol higher-crime areas of the town and had drawn scorn within the communities it served in even earlier than Mr. Nichols’s dying this month.

“It’s in the most effective curiosity of all to completely deactivate the Scorpion unit,” the Police Division mentioned in a press release on Saturday, saying the choice had been reached after “listening intently to the household of Tyre Nichols, neighborhood leaders and the uninvolved officers who’ve executed high quality work of their assignments.”

Mr. Nichols was stopped on the night of Jan. 7 as he was headed to the house he shared along with his mom and stepfather within the southeastern nook of Memphis. Mr. Nichols, who was pulled out of his automobile by officers, may be heard on the video saying, “I’m simply making an attempt to go dwelling.”

Mr. Nichols fled on foot, and when officers caught as much as him, he was kicked, struck by a baton and pepper-sprayed, at one level screaming, “Mother! Mother! Mother!”

An unbiased post-mortem commissioned by his household discovered that Mr. Nichols “suffered in depth bleeding attributable to a extreme beating,” in keeping with preliminary findings.

5 officers have been charged final week in reference to Mr. Nichol’s dying: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. The entire officers, who’re additionally Black, have been fired after an inner investigation discovered they’d used extreme pressure and had didn’t intervene or render help, because the company’s coverage required them to do.