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The Memphis Police Department has disbanded a special unit called “Scorpion” whose officers beat Black motorist Tire Nichols during a traffic stop.
Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said Saturday that she “listened carefully” to relatives, community leaders and officials who were not involved with Nichols in making the decision.
“It is in everyone’s best interest to permanently disable the Scorpion unit,” he said in a statement.
He said officers currently assigned to the unit “unreservedly agree” to the move.
The “Scorpion” unit consists of three teams of about 30 officers who target violent offenders in high-crime areas. It has been inactive since Nichols’ January 7 arrest.
A recently released video shows officers brutally beating Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx worker, for three minutes while screaming profanities in an attack that the Nichols family’s legal team has likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
Nichols called out to his mother before the limp body was placed in the squad car and the officers hugged each other.
Five officers, who are also Black, have been fired and charged with murder and other crimes in the death of Nichols three days after the arrest.
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