CNN
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A month before Tyre Nichols’ arrest and death, activists and organizers made a presentation at a Memphis City Council Public Safety Commission hearing on violence in the city they say has led to the death or injury of five people since 2013. emphasized concerns about traffic stoppages on the pretext of , video of the committee hearing.
Activist execute memphis I gave a presentation on December 6th. This was almost exactly one month after he was brutally beaten during a traffic stop by members of his now-disbanded Scorpions unit.
There was no specific reference to the Scorpion unit during the presentation, but a review by CNN was found.
Among those present at the Commission hearings were Police Chief Selene Davis and Council members J.B. Smiley, Dr. Jeff Warren, Worth Morgan, Mikalyn Easter-Thomas and Chase Carlyle. bottom.
To underscore the dangers of police stops, activists cited a list of victims, including Anjustine Hunter, who was killed by police after being stopped for vehicle registration in 2013. . Darius Stewart, who died in 2015 after being stopped due to a headlight problem, and DiMario Perkins, who died in 2018 after being stopped for vehicle registration. In 2019, Shelby County prosecutors declined to press charges in Perkins’ death after the coroner ruled Perkins committed suicide, according to CNN affiliate WMC. The station reported that two police officers opened fire at the traffic stop.
Two people each were reported injured during traffic outages in 2018 and 2021.
A group analysis of Memphis traffic stops using police data found that black male drivers in the city were mentioned 3.4 times more often than white male drivers, and black women 4.7 times more often than white women, and were mentioned more often by Memphis police officers. Disproportionately stopped. in the city. Black Memphisians under 30 were cited six times more often than white Memphisians under 30, according to the group. According to an analysis of police data,
The group argued that the pretexted suspension action was “discriminatory,” “counterproductive,” and “dangerous” for the city’s residents.
“Traffic controls are important for a city like ours with traffic problems. said at a committee hearing in response to the data presented. I live in a city that has problems in the community of
“We need to seriously consider how we extract data and be very transparent about what police are doing on the road,” said Davis.
Unlike some other cities, Memphis does not publish traffic enforcement data. Decarcerate Memphis said it collected data from her five-year ticket obtained from the agency through a public records request.
The five black officers involved in Nichols’ arrest were arraigned on February 17 after being fired on January 20 and charged with seven counts, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, and obstruction of justice. They will each be indicted on the count. A sixth officer, who is White, was fired and disciplined for violating Nichols case policy.
The SCORPION unit was created to tackle the increasing crime in the city. The station said it disbanded amid public outcry after Nichols’ death.
Memphis attorneys are trying to ascertain whether their clients have clashed with members of the unit, according to attorney Mike Working. Just as the unit loses its credibility, I hope it collapses whatever legal danger their clients are facing or face.
City officials have not released a roster of specialized units, so attorneys are searching the indictment for any mention of the team’s involvement.
“The Scorpion unit’s tactics are so brazen, so many people are coming forward, the whole unit is at stake. And the defense will really ask for a chance to re-examine the whole thing,” Working said. Told.
He said charges won’t be automatically dropped, but the unit’s presence will allow defense attorneys to confirm discoveries such as body cameras and dash cameras six months earlier than usual. Being able to examine evidence faster means lawyers can find something to dismiss their clients’ lawsuits, he added.
“Scorpion, by its name, means there’s probably something there that the defense should investigate,” Working said.
It’s currently unknown how many criminal cases involve Scorpion Squad officers, but after Tyre Nichols, it will be much more difficult for prosecutors to craft and maintain cases through trials, Working said.
“They worked in teams and most of the officers on the team participated in the arrests,” he said. “So if everyone were to be a team of Scorpions, [district attorney] Restore the Scorpion-tainted case [unit]”
