The Memphis Police Department disbands special forces officers charged with the murder of Tire Nichols

Memphis, Tennessee, police disbanded the city’s so-called Scorpion unit on Saturday, citing a “cloud of dishonor” after officers were seen beating up motorist Tire Nichols in a recently released videotape.

Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis sprang into action a day after the brutal video appeared, saying she listened to Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and uninvolved officers in making the decision.

Her announcement comes as the nation and city struggle to come to grips with the officers’ violence, who are also black.

The video renewed doubts about why deadly encounters with law enforcement continue to occur despite repeated calls for change.

The footage shows police savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx employee for three minutes as he yells profanities at him in an attack that the Nichols family legal team has compared to the infamous 1991 police beating on Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.

Nichols calls out for his mother before his limp body is propped against a patrol car and the officers exchange fists.

Protesters marching through downtown Memphis cheered when they heard the unit had been disbanded. A protester said over a megaphone that “the unit that killed Tire has been definitively disbanded”.

Referring to “the heinous actions of a few” that dishonored the unit, Davis contradicted an earlier statement that she would keep the team. She said it was imperative that the department “take proactive steps in the healing process.”

“It is in everyone’s best interest to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit,” she said in a statement. She said the officers currently assigned to it agreed “without reservation.”

The unit consisted of three teams of about 30 officers with the aim of dealing with violent offenders in high-crime areas. It had been inactive since Nichols’ arrest on January 7.

Scorpion stands for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods.

In an interview Friday, Davis had said she wouldn’t shut down a unit if some officers committed “a flagrant act” and because she needed it to keep working.

“The whole idea of ​​the Scorpion unit being a bad unit, I just have a problem with that,” Davis said at the time.

Davis became the first black female chief in Memphis a year after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police.

She was then chief in Durham, North Carolina, and had called for major police reform.

Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, attorneys for the Nichols family, said the move was “a decent and just decision.”

“We must remember that this is just the next step on this journey towards justice and accountability, as this misconduct is not limited to these specialized units. It extends so much further,” they said.

The five disgraced officers: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith have been fired and charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in Nichols’ death, which came three days after the arrest.

They risk up to 60 years in prison if convicted.