“No pursuit is worth the loss of innocent life,” Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said.

A heavy police presence was spotted at the White Station Poplar Library around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2.

TBI confirms officer in critical condition after East Memphis shooting

It took five years — five years — for New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo to be fired after Eric Garner’s death in 2014. In Memphis, in 2023, it took 13 days for five officers to be fired for their roles in Tyre Nichols’ death. 

Tyre was friends with many people, but he found plenty of respite in solitude, too, with his camera and skateboard. 

Sharpton will eulogize Nichols at his funeral at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church Wednesday, Feb. 1. White House officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, are set to attend.

The City of Memphis is preparing to release the full audio and video footage of Tyre Nichols’ fatal encounter with police once its administrative investigation is completed in the next few weeks. 

An analysis of the personnel records of the five officers included mainly procedural violations, car accidents and accidental damage of department equipment for four of the officers.

Preston Hemphill, one of two MPD officers suspended in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols in addition to five officers who have been fired, was a member of the now-disbanded SCORPION unit, court records show. 

Related stories:

Seventh MPD officer relieved of duty as more personnel actions are ‘imminent'

Three Memphis firefighters fired in Nichols probe

President Joe Biden told the family last week he would make passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in Congress a priority.

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Funeral services for Tyre Nichols set for Wednesday

Rev. Al Sharpton will give Tyre Nichols’ eulogy.

The initial information released by police in the Tyre Nichols case differed significantly in some respects from what was shown on video footage released to the public last week. 

Leaders of the sunset protest demanded the names of every officer involved in Nichols’ death and that they all be charged. Meanwhile, the parents of Nichols were among a smaller group that gathered Monday evening in the Brandywine subdivision where Nichols was beaten by police the night they stopped him.

A seventh Memphis Police officer under investigation and off the job is not identified. But police brass say he and officer Preston Hemphill have been relieved of duty since the day after Tyre Nichols was beaten by police in southeast Memphis.

Three Memphis firefighters have been fired for violating “numerous” department protocols in the treatment of Tyre Nichols, the Memphis Fire Department announced.

News of Preston Hemphill being relieved of duty caused attorneys representing the family of Tyre Nichols to question the level of transparency provided by the Memphis Police Department.

Related story:

Officer relieved of duty after Tyre Nichols’ death

The Memphis Police Department confirmed Monday, Jan. 30, that Officer Preston Hemphill has been relieved of duty and it plans “to have additional information to share ... once it becomes available.”

The Daily Memphian analyzed the earliest available footage of the Nichols traffic stop in detail, creating a moment-by-moment timeline of the Memphis Police Department officers’ increasingly aggressive responses, even as Nichols himself remains calm and compliant.

The Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit, which MPD announced Saturday is being disbanded, is reminiscent of a controversial defunct unit in Atlanta over which MPD Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis was once in charge. 

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MPD’s SCORPION unit permanently deactivated

The crowd at Handy Park heard Downtown Memphis Commission President Paul Young ask, “the question for our city is: what are we going to next?”

MPD released a tweet Saturday that said: “In the process of listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders and the uninvolved officers ... it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the SCORPION Unit.”

“I was just trying to turn a negative into a positive. That’s my main goal today.”