There are 16 article(s) tagged MPD SCORPION unit:
In the new footage, other MPD officers are heard describing those in the SCORPION unit as “adrenaline junkies” who are too “hands-on.” One officer is also heard saying, “It’ll be justified.”
Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis told the Memphis City Council in February 13 additional officers were facing internal police charges related to Nichols’ death, but she did not identify them.
Most of the cases dismissed as a result of their ties to the five former Memphis Police Department officers accused in Tyre Nichols’ death were street-level drug offenses, weapons violations and driving violations.
Emmitt Martin III made his first court federal court appearance Thursday, Sept. 14, and was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Annie Christoff.
U.S. District Judge Mark Norris is weighing how the civil lawsuit over Tyre Nichols’ death should proceed and what parties should be involved.
Of the five officers charged in Nichols’ death, three so far have filed motions to separate their cases.
Memphis has filed a motion to dismiss the $550 million lawsuit against the city and to strike allegations against Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis.
The new federal investigation puts Memphis in the company of other cities that have been the subject of scrutiny after high-profile instances of police violence.
“We have to have this broader view of what we’re trying to get done and what the goal is,” says Cardell Orrin.
Memphis Police Department Lt. Dewayne Smith, a 25-year veteran, has been identified as the officer who retired before an administrative hearing into his involvement in the death of Tyre Nichols.
The Daily Memphian has identified all 56 MPD officers who were a part of SCORPION, the now disbanded unit whose officers were criminally charged with the death of Tyre Nichols. One local law enforcement leader says the stats show MPD needs more rigid hiring practices.
The Nichols case has intensified the national debate on using highly aggressive tactics to battle violent crime and the pretexts that are often used. Most of the stops identified and mapped out by The Daily Memphian were made in the most impoverished areas of the city.
Memphis Police Department commanders gave Lt. Dewayne Smith a sensitive assignment — overseeing members of the controversial SCORPION unit — despite a checkered past that included giving unreliable testimony in a federal drug case. Additional Nichols’ video could be released, city attorney saysRelated story:
Though SCORPION already was affiliated with MPD’s larger Organized Crime Unit, all 35 of those officers were transferred to other parts of OCU.
With credibility on the line for members of the Memphis Police Department’s now-disbanded SCORPION unit, attorneys anticipate mass dismissals of criminal cases filed against citizens arrested by the unit.
Memphis is re-evaluating its policing tactics, including the use of data-driven special units like SCORPION, in the wake of the Tyre Nichols death.
About 16 results