After the death of Tyre Nichols, Memphis police shutter SCORPION Unit

The family of Tyre Nichols and others appalled by his death—for which five fired Memphis cops now face murder charges—welcomed the police department’s decision on Saturday to disband a unit created in 2021 to patrol high-crime areas.

The move came a day after the Tennessee city put out videos of the former Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers—Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith—brutally beating Nichols following a traffic stop on January 7. The 29-year-old Black man was hospitalized and died three days later from cardiac arrest and kidney failure.

The MPD’s Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods (SCORPION) Unit hasn’t been active since Nichols’ January 10 death, according to the mayor. The five ex-officers, who are all Black, were part of the unit and on assignment with it when they pulled over Nichols, police spokesperson Maj. Karen Rudolph confirmed to multiple news outlets on Saturday.

In public comments leading up to the footage being released Friday night—which sparked nationwide peaceful protests—Nichols’ family along with Memphis residents and people across the United States called for the unit to be shut down.

The MPD said in a statement that members of the unit met with Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis on Saturday “to discuss the path forward for the department and the community in the aftermath of the tragic death of Tyre Nichols.”

“In the process of listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders, and the uninvolved officers who have done quality work in their assignments, it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the SCORPION Unit,” the statement continued. “The officers currently assigned to the unit agree unreservedly with this next step.”

In response, attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said in a statement that “the Nichols family and their legal team find the decision to permanently disband this unit to be both appropriate and proportional to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols, and also a decent and just decision for all citizens of Memphis.”

“We hope that other cities take similar action with their saturation police units in the near future to begin to create greater trust in their communities,” the pair added. “We must keep in mind that this is just the next step on this journey for justice and accountability, as clearly this misconduct is not restricted to these specialty units. It extends so much further.”

Memphis City Council Member J.B. Smiley Jr. told the Commercial Appeal that shutting down the unit was “essential for the family” of Nichols, but “my ultimate concern is just, it may just be surface level,” because “the police department has the ability to create other units and just call it something else.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.