Muscle Cars, Balaclavas and Fists: How the Scorpions Rolled Through Memphis

Mike Scholl, a defense lawyer who has had several clients arrested by the unit, said the problem was the officers’ often heavy-handed tactics — some of his clients said they were beaten, including the man with the busted jaw — and the perception that the Scorpions often seemed to be looking for trouble.

“If they pull you over and nothing is happening, they’ll create something,” Mr. Scholl said.

In encounter after encounter, Memphis residents said, the Scorpions had a similar playbook: Officers would spot some minor infraction, jump out and begin asking questions and barking commands. Some said the officers offered no explanation about what they had done wrong, leading to confusion and sometimes disobedience. Some of those interviewed said they had tried to run away, in part, out of pure fear.

“I was terrified, really, because the way they pulled up,” Mr. Wilbourn said of his encounter with Scorpion officers on Feb. 19, 2022. “They could have been anybody, they didn’t announce themselves or anything, they didn’t turn any sirens on, any lights or anything.”

Mr. Wilbourn said he and his brother Romello Hendrix, an aspiring rapper, were preparing to meet friends to shoot a music video and were just getting their recording equipment out of their Infiniti when they were cornered by a line of Chargers.

Two officers jumped out, the brothers said, demanding to know what they were doing at the apartment complex. Moments later, Mr. Wilbourn said, an officer threw him against the Infiniti, and more officers surrounded him.

One mentioned smelling marijuana. When they searched the car, they found an ounce of marijuana and a loaded pistol, which Mr. Hendrix said was a legally obtained weapon he had brought for protection. “People out here are crazy, try to steal your car, they know I go to work and probably have something,” he said.