One of the family’s main requests was to shut down the Scorpion unit. Anthony Romanucci, one of the family’s attorneys, criticized the unit and others like the one that police departments around the country have used to fight crime in neighborhoods. where it persists.
“The intention is good,” said Romanucci. “The end result is failure.”
Mr. Nichols’ death caused extreme anger and grief for many in the community, whose grief only increased after people were able to watch the roughly hour-long footage for themselves.
“I understand why he ran – he was scared for his life,” Pastor James Earl Kirkwood, executive director of the Memphis Christian Pastor Network and a retired colonel in the Police Department. “This has hampered police relationships in our city’s Black and brown communities.”
DeVante Hill, an activist in Memphis, said he met with Sheriff Davis on Friday and made a list of demands: Reprimand the accused officers’ superiors, invest at the community level for crime fighting and comprehensive retraining.
When Mr. Hill told Sheriff Davis that he also wanted Scorpion to disband, he said her answer was clear and immediate: “Done,” she told him.
The decision to disband the unit was announced on Saturday as protesters marched through the city.
“Do you know what that means?” one of the protesters asked the crowd. “This worked.”
Hunter Dempster, an organizer of Decarcerate Memphis, a group that promotes accountability and fairness in the criminal justice system, calls the development a “good start”.
“But it’s still not enough,” Mr. Dempster clarified.
“We don’t want another Tire,” he said. “We don’t want to go out on the street again, so we’ll be there for a long time.”
Jessica Jaglois, Jesus Jimenez and pedestrian marking Contribution report from Memphis. Mike Baker also contributed reports.
