Memphis police announced Saturday the dismantling of the special unit involved in the early January fatal beating of Tire Nichols, a young African-American man, whose video shocked the United States.
On Saturday, police in the southern US city of Memphis, Tennessee, said in a statement that “it is in everyone’s interest to permanently dismantle the SCORPION unit.”
“The police officers currently assigned to the unit have given their consent,” the statement added.
The SCORPION (for Operation Street Crime to Bring Peace to Our Neighborhoods) unit, launched in 2021, was tasked with patrolling Memphis’ “high crime hotspots,” according to ABC News.
A decision hailed by the family of Tire Nichols
Tire Nichols’ family welcomed this decision through a press release from his lawyers, considering it “appropriate and proportionate to the tragic death of Tire Nichols” but also “decent and fair to all the citizens of Memphis.”
The shocking images of the fatal arrest of 29-year-old Tire Nichols by five black police officers have aroused horror and incomprehension in the United States, without yet causing the social outbreak similar to that of the summer of 2020 feared by the authorities.
Since his death in early January, his family has repeatedly called for calm. And ahead of the video’s release Friday night, which was picked up live and uncut by major television stations, President Joe Biden called his mother and stepfather and urged peaceful protests.
Shocking images of his beating
Video released by police shows an excruciating beating after a banal traffic stop on January 7 in Memphis. With their fists, feet and batons, the policemen attacked the young man, spraying him with tear gas and pointing a taser at him. Tire Nichols died three days later at a Memphis hospital.
The five police officers were fired, charged with murder, and jailed. Four of them were later released on bail.
On Friday, while saying they were horrified, the family said they were “satisfied” with the charges brought against the five police officers and praised the “speed” of the action taken against them.
Rallies ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred people were held Friday night in various cities, including Memphis, New York and Washington.
Source: BFM TV
