A former veteran Memphis city police officer who knew those involved in Tyre Nichols' violent arrest spoke to CBS News about one of the five ex-officers charged in the case, and the so-called SCORPION unit those five were members of.
He described the"proactive" approach of the ex-officer as someone who thought, if you didn't go after the bad guys aggressively you were not doing your job as a police officer.
Tyre Nichols was arrested after Haley and and the four other officers — Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — stopped him for reckless driving., released by the city on Friday, shows Nichols was severely beaten. He died three days later in the hospital. But he said Haley did butt heads with others in the department for, in Haley's view, their not being aggressive enough in pursuing criminals.Haley, a former Shelby County Corrections Officer, was a member of the hand-picked SCORPION team, a specialized unit formed in 2021 to fight violent street crime.
"You have to be a go-getter, for the most part," to join the SCORPION unit, the former officer told CBS News."You have to be someone who wants to make a difference, who wants to catch the bad guy."that investigators"have not been able to substantiate" the initial report of reckless driving that prompted Nichols' arrest.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Memphis police’s vaunted Scorpion unit under scrutiny after Tyre Nichols’ killingThe police chief announced a review of the police department’s specialized units, including Scorpion, which launched in 2021 to combat a rise in homicides.
Read more »
Memphis Police's Vaunted Scorpion Unit Under Scrutiny After Tyre Nichols' KillingThe killing of Tyre Nichols has brought scrutiny to the Memphis police department’s Scorpion unit, which was a new anti-violence unit launched in late 2021
Read more »
Memphis police’s vaunted Scorpion unit under scrutiny after Tyre Nichols’ deathThe police chief announced a review of the police department’s specialized units, including Scorpion, which launched in 2021 to combat a rise in homicides.
Read more »
Tyre Nichols death raises questions about Memphis Police's 'Scorpion Unit'The police unit, launched in 2021, faces scrutiny after it emerged that some of the officers involved in detaining Tyre Nichols were members of it.
Read more »
Tyre Nichols’ family calls for Memphis PD SCORPION squad to be disbandedAt least two of the five officers who have now been charged with murder over Nichol’s savage pepper spraying and clubbing on Jan. 7 were members of the SCORPION unit.
Read more »
Explainer: Tyre Nichols case: What is Memphis' controversial SCORPION police unit?At least some of the officers involved in the traffic stop that authorities say resulted in the beating and death of Tyre Nichols were part of a specialized Memphis policing unit called SCORPION.
Read more »