Tag: SCORPION

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Tyre Nichols Lawsuit Lays Blame With City, MPD Chief Cerelyn Davis

Credit: City of Memphis

Attorneys for the family of Tyre Nichols filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Memphis, the Memphis Police Department (MPD), and those involved in his January traffic stop and killing by police.   

The lawsuit was filed by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump, Antonio Romanucci, and local counsel. A news release issued Wednesday said it was a “landmark lawsuit” but did not give a dollar figure the family seeks in damages. 

But the attorneys said Nichols, 29, was on his way home to have dinner with his parents the night of his killing at the hands of police. They said the “abhorrent and reprehensible” actions of “untrained and unsupervised” officers came via “officially sanctioned, unconstitutional MPD policies.” The actions were set in motion, the lawyers said, upon the hiring of MPD Chief Cerelyn Davis a year prior. 

“The savage beating of Tyre Nichols was the direct and foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies, practices, customs, and decisions of the city of Memphis and Chief Davis,” reads a statement from the attorneys. “Her now-disbanded police unit carried a name that will forever live in infamy for the devastation and carnage it caused:  Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods (SCORPION). 

”Rather than ’restore peace’ in Memphis neighborhoods, SCORPION brought terror. In reality, it was an officially sanctioned gang of inexperienced, hyper-aggressive police officers turned loose on the Memphis community without any oversight to strike without warning and, many times, without any valid constitutional basis. Consistent with the directives received from Chief Davis herself, SCORPION officers carried out untold Fourth Amendment violations with a focus on Black men living in Memphis.”

The attorneys described the scene the night Nichols was pulled over. For starters, they said the officers never gave him a reason for the stop and reasons for that stop have not yet been substantiated. 

Here’s how the attorneys described the scene that night:

“As the SCORPION officers escalated the situation with harsh and disgusting profanity and hostility, Tyre attempted to de-escalate with measured communication and calmness. 

“Upon recognizing these officers were operating with raging aggression and unjustified force, Tyre fled the scene toward his home where he lived with his parents. What transpired next was a relentless and brutal beating by a group of officers. 

“Just feet from his parents and the safety of his home, five SCORPION officers tracked Tyre down and deployed their sting in the form of repeated punches, kicks, and pepper spray to a non-resistant, restrained young man shouting for his mother while they unleashed their physical hostility upon him. 

“When Tyre fell to the ground, he was lifted back up so that officers could continue to tee-off with more punches, strikes, kicks, and chemical sprays — all of this with full knowledge that their body-worn cameras were recording every second. 

“Such a ruthless and brutal beating could only be carried out by officers without any fear of discipline or intervention and with a hardened, defined shield of impunity protecting them from on high. To be sure, there was never any attempt of intervention by any officer or (MPD) official at any point as Tyre remained defenseless through the onslaught. 

“When the torrential beating ended, Tyre’s body was propped up against the police car to be displayed like a battered prize of a trophy hunt for the countless Memphis officials that would arrive on the scene. Pictures would be taken, jokes would be made, and medical care would be withheld for over twenty minutes as Tyre’s body lay devastated from the beating. Indeed, he was dying, and three days later succumbed to his injuries.”

The suit was filed in United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division. Defendants in the case are the “city of Memphis, MPD Chief Cerelyn Davis, Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Desmond Mills, Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Preston Hemphill, and DeWayne Smith who were participants in individual capacities as Memphis Police Officers, and Robert Long, JaMichael Sandridge, and Michelle Whitaker for their individual roles as Memphis Fire Department employees.

The complaint states Nichols was deprived of his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. It also highlights what it calls systemic issues for improper policies and procedures by the city of Memphis. 

The suit also alleges that MPD lieutenant DeWayne Smith lied to Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells. Smith told her the night of the police killing that Nichols was intoxicated, the suit says. He also withheld reasons why Nichols was arrested, lied about Nichols’ medical condition, failed to say that Nichols was just around the corner from her house, and that Nichols was dying. 

The suit seeks compensatory, special, and punitive damages and costs as defined under federal law in an amount to be determined by a jury.

“Tyre’s condition in the hospital can be likened to that of Emmitt Till, who was also beaten unrecognizable by a lynch mob,” said attorney Crump. “But, Tyre’s lynch mob was dressed in department sweatshirts and vests, sanctioned by the entities that supplied them. Please, Memphis. Please, America. We must hold these people accountable and create meaningful change once and for all. We can not let another 70 years go by.”

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At Large Opinion

A Scorpion’s Sting

Tyre Nichols (Photo: Family of Tyre Nichols)

Somebody put some serious work into coming up with the acronym for SCORPION, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods. The operation was announced with some fanfare in late 2021 by Mayor Jim Strickland and Police Director C.J. Davis. The four 10-man units were assigned to work in high-crime areas, seeking to reduce the city’s rates of murder, carjacking, car theft, and other major felonies. As has now been reported, the officers often used “no tolerance” policing methods, pulling motorists over for low-level infractions, such as tinted windows or seat-belt violations, as an excuse to interrogate and search.

We still don’t know why SCORPION officers stopped 29-year-old Tyre Nichols near his home in the Hickory Hill neighborhood on January 7th, but, as is now well-documented after the release of a disturbing and nauseating video last Friday, we do know the officers aggressively pulled Nichols from his car, and though he cooperated fully with commands to lie on the ground, they struck him repeatedly and shot him with a taser.

Nichols fled the scene but was caught eight minutes later. Video from a nearby pole-mounted police camera showed five officers mercilessly beating Nichols with batons, face-kicks, and brutal punches to his head for more than three minutes. Nichols was then left on the ground for nearly a half-hour as his assailants stood around discussing possible alibis, ignoring him. Three days later, Nichols died from his injuries at St. Francis Hospital. Ten days after that, on January 20th, the officers were fired for violations of department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid.

No one who watched that video can deny that this was a lynching, a cold-blooded murder of a young man whose death began with a routine traffic stop that escalated only because the cops wanted it to. The Nichols case made the MPD — and the city of Memphis — the lead story on the national news for several days. Reporters parachuted into town from all over, doing stand-up reporting from Memphis streets, covering the peaceful protests, and interviewing Memphis officials and politicians.

In the aftermath, the city got some things right. Davis denounced the officers’ actions, quickly fired them, and said of the video: “This is not just a professional failing. This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual. … This incident was heinous, reckless, and inhumane.”

District Attorney Stephen Mulroy held a press conference to announce charges against the five officers, including second-degree murder, and urged consideration of police reform. (This is in stark contrast, it should be noted, to the former DA, who was reluctant to prosecute MPD officers for much of anything.)

The national news website Daily Beast contrasted Memphis’ response with that of New York in similar police-related cases: “This is how you do it. You give the officers due process. But you don’t serve as their defense attorney. … It’s notable that officials in a red state (albeit in a purplish city) appear more committed to accountability for police officers than they are … in New York City.”

City officials — and Nichols’ mother RowVaughn Wells — asked residents “to protest in peace. I don’t want us burning our city, tearing up our streets.” And Memphis, again, got it right. Demonstrators were unfailingly peaceful. Tyre Nichols’ life was celebrated — and his death was mourned with calm, power, and dignity.

Now here we are, and now the real work begins. The Nichols family deserves swift justice. Those officers need to go to prison for a long time. But MPD needs to be rebuilt from the ground up — and maybe from the top down — starting with those who thought SCORPION was a good idea. It was not. It propagated a toxic “cop culture” that was allowed free rein under the guise of restoring peace to our neighborhoods. Davis announced the deactivation of the unit on Saturday, which is a start.

Perhaps Lawrence Turner, pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, where Nichols’ funeral will be held this week, said it best: “Today can mark the beginning of the Second Civil Rights Movement: beyond individual equality to systemic equality. We demand a system that manifests justice for all, not the privileged few, in Tyre’s name — each day going forward until we overcome.”

It’s our turn, Memphis. The world is still watching.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

The Banality of Evil

An unnamed Memphis Police officer smiles as EMTs examine Tyre Nichols. Three days later, Nichols died of injuries inflicted by members of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit. (Photo: City of Memphis)

“The camera never lies,” the old saying goes. But really, the lies cameras tell are lies of omission. The filmmaker chooses to show the well-lit movie star, not the scruffy gaffer holding the light. In past videos of police brutality, such as the 1991 Rodney King beating and the 2020 murder of George Floyd, police apologists insisted that exonerating evidence was, like the scruffy gaffer, just off screen.

Video 2, Video 4, Video 3, and Video 1 leave little ambiguity for bad faith actors to exploit. They present the murder of Tyre Nichols in multiple angles with minimal editing. Video 1 is the body camera of a white officer who rolls up on Nichols’ car stopped in a left turn lane on Raines Road. It is not immediately obvious that the two vehicles hemming Nichols in on the front and left side are unmarked police cars. The first intelligible words in the video are a Memphis Police officer screaming, “You gonna get your ass blown the fuck up!”

What is clear from Video 1 is that Tyre Nichols presented no threat. Once he figures out these are real cops and not carjackers, he desperately tries to de-escalate the situation. “You guys are really doing a lot right now,” he says. “I’m just trying to go home.”

But it’s no use. These agents of the state are looking for a bit of fun at Nichols’ expense.“Lay down!” one cops yells.

“I’m already on the ground!” pleads Nichols, who is at this point completely under the control of 600 pounds worth of MPD. “I’m not doing anything!”

“Spray him.”

As camera cop fumbles with his taser, another cop tries to pepper spray Nichols. Instead, the chemical weapon blinds his fellow officers. In the confusion, Nichols sees his chance and runs.

It’s a rational choice, since the MPD has made it clear to Nichols that there is no level of compliance he could demonstrate that will stop them from torturing him in the turn lane. It’s well-known in Memphis that if you run from the cops, they’ll give you a whooping when they catch you.“You got any charges on him?” the dispatcher asks over the radio. No one answers, because there are no charges. They’re just hunting him for sport.

“I sprayed myself,” says a bearded cop.

“Shit, you sprayed me too!” says camera cop. “I hope they stomp his ass.”

Nichols flees into the suburban neighborhood where his mother lives. Coincidentally, the corner where the cops catch him is in view of a SkyCop camera. The angle of Video 2 is eerily similar to the angle of the Rodney King video. It provides an unobstructed view of Memphis Police officers, enraged by their own incompetence, taking turns beating Tyre Nichols to death.

The lenses of the two body cameras in Video 3 and Video 4 are obscured at crucial moments in ways that look deliberate, but they record the sound of Nichols crying out for his mother, and one police officer gleefully declaring, “I’m gonna baton the fuck out of you!”

The only area this “elite squad” is well-trained in is how to safely use the state’s monopoly on violence to their advantage. The cops chant, “Give me your hands!” as an incantation to invoke qualified immunity. They are performing for the body cameras, giving viewers — and the courts — permission to blame the victim.

As horrifying as the violence is, the banality of what follows is even more disturbing. One cop props Nichols up on the side of a car to take a trophy picture of his handiwork. When the brain-damaged Nichols manages to slur some words, one of the cops who damaged his brain accuses him of being “high as a motherfucker.” Another killer cop brags about throwing “haymakers” at the restrained civilian. The EMTs whose duty it is to render aid to Nichols instead treat him with depraved indifference.

Rumors have circulated that Tyre Nichols was targeted by a cop with a grudge. But that’s just wishful thinking. The truth revealed by these four videos is far worse. Amid all the horror, the image that sticks in my mind is of a Memphis police officer who arrives late to the scene. He sees Nichols, bloody and broken, and he grins. The cops of the SCORPION unit were doing the job they were hired to do: controlling a subject population through violence and terror. They were bros celebrating a win.