A protester shouts slogans near a police officer during a rally in New York City January 28, 2023, a day after videos of the fatal police arrest of Tire Nichols were released. EDUARDO MUNOZ / AFP
This was one of the actions requested following the death of Tire Nichols: Memphis police on Saturday, January 28, dismantled the Scorpion squad that included the five police officers accused of causing the death of the 29-year-old African American man to have long beating in early January.
Police in this major Tennessee city in the southern United States said in a statement that “it is in everyone’s interest to permanently dismantle the SCORPION unit.”
“Police officers currently assigned to the unit have given their full approval,” the statement added.
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This announcement comes the day after videos showing the violent arrest of Tire Nichols during a traffic stop were released to the public on January 7th. The man died three days after being admitted to the hospital. The images of the police operation caused horror and incomprehension in the USA without initially causing the social explosion similar to that feared by the authorities in the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer.
A decision welcomed by Tire Nichols’ family
Tire Nichols’ family welcomed the Memphis Police Department’s decision in a statement from his attorneys, calling it “both reasonable and proportionate to the tragic death of Tire Nichols,” but also “decent and fair to all Memphis citizens.”
“We hope that other cities will take similar steps with their police units. [des quartiers difficiles] begin to build greater trust in their communities in the near future,” the family added.
Rallies of a few dozen to a few hundred people were held in several cities including Memphis, New York and Washington on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, several dozen demonstrators mobilized in the rain and cold in front of Memphis City Hall, an imposing building made of concrete blocks.
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“Memphis has an opportunity to set the pattern for responding to such acts,” City Councilman JB Smiley told the crowd, calling for police reform. To the tune of “No Justice No Peace” and with signs calling for “Justice for Tire Nichols,” the protesters then marched through the otherwise quiet streets of Memphis.
Nearly 1,200 dead in 2022 from interactions with US police
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, who created the unit in November 2021 with the goal of reducing illegal activity in sensitive neighborhoods by deploying more officers there, reported that Scorpion had successes in its early days, particularly the reduction in Crime in 2022 after a record 345 homicides the previous year, which she said had caused “an outcry”.
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Scorpion, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, should “reduce gun violence, be visible in communities and impact rising crime,” she said on CNN.
Two years after the death of African American George Floyd, the number of people who died in interactions with police still reached its highest level in a decade, with 1,186 deaths in 2022, according to the Mapping Police website.
The five police officers involved in the death of Tire Nichols have been fired, charged with murder and imprisoned. Four of them were later released on bail.