City: Nichols family hasn’t shown SCORPION was ‘unconstitutional’
RowVaughn Wells, center, the mother of Tyre Nichols, is represented by attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci. (Brandon Dill/AP Photo file)
The City of Memphis is digging in deeper in its fight against a lawsuit brought by Tyre Nichols’ estate and mother, again asserting the Nichols family attorneys have not shown how the city and Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis encouraged unconstitutional acts.
The city filed two replies late Aug. 25 to filings by the Nichols family. In those Friday filings, attorneys at Baker Donelson, the city’s private representation, continued to assert the plaintiffs have not proven a key element of their case — that Davis and the city had knowingly encouraged unconstitutional practices.
“Plaintiff’s allegations lack sufficient factual basis to establish that the city had a fixed plan of action that manifested as a practice with the force of law,” they wrote.
Memphis has filed a motion to dismiss the $550 million lawsuit and to strike allegations against Davis.
Tyre Nichols was fatally beaten by police during a traffic stop on Jan. 7. (Courtesy of the Nichols family/ AP Photo file)
In the filings, the attorneys cite case law that they argue establishes a precedent for how a municipality and a police department enshrine an unconstitutional practice. They say attorneys for RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, have not shown the city did that.
They also argued that creation of the now-disbanded SCORPION unit, which included the officers accused of beating Nichols Jan. 7, was not unconstitutional.
“Plaintiff does not allege that Chief Davis’ creation of SCORPION was, itself, an unconstitutional act. Instead, Plaintiff baldly — and generally — asserts that Chief Davis instructed the officers in her command to routinely and regularly violate the Constitution. Plaintiff does not present one fact to support that conclusory allegation,” the city’s attorneys wrote.
Wells, represented by attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, has argued the city’s hiring of Davis was essential in the creation of the SCORPION unit and that hiring her encouraged policing that violated civil rights. They’ve also alleged that Davis and MPD failed to train SCORPION Unit officers.
Additionally, they have argued that Davis’ time as part of the controversial and disbanded Red Dog unit in the Atlanta Police Department is a key element to the later tactics of the SCORPION unit.
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Tyre Nichols C.J. Davis MPD SCORPION unitSamuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. He began his journalism career at the Tulsa World in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he covered business and, later, K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on Elon Musk’s xAI, regional energy needs and how Memphis and Shelby County government spend taxpayer dollars.
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