On Wednesday, the family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued them and the city of Memphis. The lawsuit alleges officials allowed the aggressive tactics of a special unit to continue unchecked.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis is being sued for allegedly establishing a crime-suppression unit called Scorpion to target violent repeat offenders.
According to the lawsuit, the Scorpion unit used “extreme intimidation, humiliation, and violence” and “disproportionately focused on and targeted young Black men,” which explains why Nichols was targeted. According to the report, the department allowed this aggressive strategy to develop and ignored complaints before Nichols' death.
Lawyers representing Tyre Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, filed the lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial and financial damages. According to police, the five officers charged with beating Nichols were members of the unit, which was disbanded after the incident.
There was no comment from Memphis regarding the lawsuit.
Tyre Nichols' brutal death at the hands of these Memphis police officers, who were members of a notoriously violent law enforcement unit, can never be undone or forgotten, but his family deserves restitution through the accountability of his killers and the city of Memphis.
Source: NBC News