Memphis Police Department on United States of America announced yesterday Saturday that the Scorpion Special Forces, whose five former members were involved in the fatal beating of a young African-American man, was disbanding, an incident whose video shocked the country.

Police in a city in Tennessee (south) said in a press release they issued that it was “in the best interest of all” to “finally disband” this unit.

“Police officers who belong” to this “unreservedly agreed,” the report said.

Tyree Nichols’ family praised the decision in a press release issued by their lawyers, calling it “appropriate and commensurate with the tragic death of Tyree Nichols” and “fair” to “all Memphis residents.”

Shocking footage of a 29-year-old being violently arrested by five black police officers has sparked horror, shock, and confusion in the US, but not yet — a social explosion comparable to that of the summer of 2020, as authorities envisioned. was afraid.

Since the death of Tyree Nichols in early January, the family has continued to call for peace. Before the video, which was broadcast live and uncut by US television channels, was released yesterday Friday, US President Joe Biden called the young man’s mother and stepfather, urging the protests to be peaceful.

“Possibility”

Gatherings of a few dozen to a few hundred people took place last Friday evening in Memphis itself, New York and Washington, among others. Episodes are not mentioned.

On Saturday afternoon, despite the rain and cold, dozens of protesters gathered in front of the imposing Memphis City Hall.

“Memphis has the opportunity to become a model for responding to such actions,” Councilman Jay B. Smiley said, addressing the crowd that demanded police reform.

Shouting “without justice there is no peace” and carrying signs demanding “justice for Tyree Nichols”, the protesters marched through the quiet streets of the city.

brutal beating

Earlier, residents expressed outrage after watching a video of the beating of a teenager.

Robert Jones, 26, a salesman at the center, saw some of the footage.

“Even though it’s a new year, nothing has changed,” he commented pointedly, referring to police brutality.

Videos released by police show a brutal beating following a routine inspection on January 7 on a Memphis street. With punches, kicks, batons, the police attacked Tire Nichols, who never resisted, tried to run, but was stopped. In one of the clips, you can hear her screaming “mom”.

The 29-year-old African American died three days later in a Memphis hospital.

Police “culture”

Five police officers were arrested, charged with murder and taken into custody. Four were released on bail.

On Friday, despite the horror they have yet to overcome, members of Tyree Nicholls’ family expressed “satisfaction” with the charges against the four officers and the “speed” of action against them.

“That could have been me” in Tyre Nichols’s shoes, said DeMarcus Carter, a 36-year-old African-American man from Memphis. He also noted that he expected the protests to be larger.

However, when the trial takes place, if the verdict is not what it should be, “there will be a lot more protests,” he predicts.

A new death in custody has reignited the U.S. debate about police brutality and served as a painful reminder of the case of George Floyd, who was killed in 2020 by a white police officer, and the feeling that, despite the massive protests that followed, nothing was being done to address the problem.

Ben Crump, who is part of a team of lawyers assigned to represent the family of Tyree Nichols, who also represented the family of George Floyd, spoke of an “institutionalized police culture.”

“Whether a police officer is ‘black, Hispanic or white,'” Mr. Crump explained on MSNBC, “there are unwritten rules that if someone belongs to a certain racial group, they can be treated with excessive strength.”

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}