Memphis Police Disbands Unit Whose Officers Were Charged in Tyre Nichols’s Death

MEMPHIS — The Memphis Police Department said on Saturday that it had disbanded a specialized group of officers known as the Scorpion unit after five of its members were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was shown on video being kicked, struck and pepper-sprayed by officers.

Mr. Nichols’s family and activists in the city had demanded that the Police Department dismantle the unit, which deployed officers to patrol higher-crime areas of the city and had drawn scorn in the communities it served in even before Mr. Nichols’s death this month.

“It is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit,” the Police Department said in a statement on Saturday, saying the decision had been reached after “listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders and the uninvolved officers who have done quality work in their assignments.”

Mr. Nichols was stopped on the evening of Jan. 7 as he was headed to the home he shared with his mother and stepfather in the southeastern corner of Memphis. Mr. Nichols, who was pulled out of his car by officers, can be heard on the video saying, “I’m just trying to go home.”

Mr. Nichols fled on foot, and when officers caught up to him, he was kicked, struck by a baton and pepper-sprayed, at one point screaming, “Mom! Mom! Mom!”

An independent autopsy commissioned by his family found that Mr. Nichols “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to preliminary findings.

Five officers were charged last week in connection with Mr. Nichol’s death: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. All of the officers, who are also Black, were fired after an internal investigation found they had used excessive force and had failed to intervene or render aid, as the agency’s policy required them to do.