Memphis, Tennessee

A 29-year-old Black man named Tyre Nichols was hospitalised after he was arrested in the United States’ city of Memphis on January 7 and three days after the traffic check descended into a police assault he succumbed to his injuries and passed away. Some of the five former police officers who are now charged with Nichols’ murder were a part of the Memphis policing unit called SCORPION. 

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What is the SCORPION?

The SCORPION unit which stands for “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods” was created in October 2021 after the city in the state of Tennessee faced an uptick in violent crime. The unit was tasked to stop homicides, assaults and robberies while members of each team are also focused on car theft, gang investigations and “crime suppression”. 

It comprises around 40 officers in four teams who are deployed to crime hotspots in Memphis, however, some activists have said that its focus on particular parts of the city contributes to officers’ bias and brutality. Notably, between October 2021 and January 2022, SCORPION made 566 arrests out of which 390 were felony arrests, said Mayor Jim Strickland, in a speech last year. 

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The city’s mayor while touting the unit’s effectiveness also talked about how the officers had seized $103,000 in cash, 270 vehicles and 253 weapons in the aforementioned period of time. 

How is the unit connected to Nichols’ case?

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In a press conference on Thursday, a day before authorities release the body camera footage of the police confrontation which has since sparked widespread protests, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy while announcing the charges against the fired officers said, “The Scorpion unit was involved”. 

However, there is no clarity on how many officers or who among the five charged were a part of the unit while many have also questioned if they were acting as a part of the SCORPION when they encountered Nichols. According to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office records, the now former Black police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith were involved in the incident and have since been sacked. 

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They have also been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression. Furthermore, the incident's body camera footage shows that Nichols was severely beaten after initially being stopped for a traffic violation. 

On Friday, the police released bodycam footage showing Nichols being kicked, punched in the face and head, and assaulted with a baton. Additionally, the preliminary results of an Nichols’ autopsy shows that he suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” however, the full report is yet to be released, as per media reports. 

What makes the SCORPION unit so controversial?

Recently, the unit has garnered significant criticism, particularly after the Nichols case which has also raised concerns that the SCORPION has strayed from its core mission of targeting more serious crimes. “They were in unmarked cars, why are they conducting traffic stops?” said Antonio Romanucci, one of the lawyers for Nichols’ case to CBS. 

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Furthermore, the attorney for the Nichols family has also called on the police chief to “disband the SCORPION unit effective immediately” saying that the intent of the unit has been “corrupted” which they have attributed to inadequate oversight. The lawyers for the victim’s family have also argued that this has led to the use of tactics that increased the risk of violence. 

Notably, many have also pointed out that Nichols’ encounter with the police began at a traffic stop which does not fall under the unit’s mandate of violent crime suppression while critics point out that such stops are an excuse to search for weapons or drugs but quickly escalate to violence. 

The family’s civil rights lawyer, Ben Crump also spoke about how these units can turn into “a pack of wolves,” and how another Black male in Memphis was a victim of the unit’s officer’s “excessive force” just days before Nichols' death.

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In the wake of Nichols’ death, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis who was also the first black woman to serve in that role for the city has since called for a review of all of the police department’s specialized units including the SCORPION unit and described the incident as “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” reported Reuters.

Multiple allegations against the SCORPION unit

Several reports citing criminal justice reform activists and some residents of the city said that the officers who are a part of the SCORPION unit had previously been accused of using excessive force. Additionally, Nichols’ case has also largely drawn attention to Memphis’ multiple specialized units and elite police teams. 

A report by BBC citing local media said a man named Cornell McKinney who is also from the city, had a tense encounter with the unit on January 3 where he alleged that the officers in the unmarked vehicle accused him of carrying drugs and threatened to “blow his head off” while pointing a weapon at his head. Subsequently, he filed a complaint at the Memphis Police Department but did not receive any response. 

ALSO READ | Tyre Nichols Death: Timeline of investigation, Memphis police body cam footage & family reaction

Additionally, one of the officers who arrested Nichols had also been sued by a man who accused him of beating him as a prisoner around eight years ago. Addressing a press conference on Friday, Crump also spoke about several allegations against the SCORPION unit and cited an incident where one of the alleged victims was a 66-year-old. 

“He said he was confronted by this unit and he was brutalized, and he had pictures of his injuries…And so, it was foreseeable that something tragic like this was going to happen,” said Crump, as per ABC news. The Memphis Police Department has not responded to these allegations. 

(With inputs from agencies) 

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