SCORPION Unit 'permanently deactivated' after Tyre Nichols death

The five former officers charged in the incident were in the unit.

ByMeredith Deliso, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, and Nadine El-Bawab
Last Updated: January 27, 2023, 10:22 AM EST

Officials in Memphis, Tennessee, released dramatic body camera footage Friday of the fatal confrontation between Tyre Nichols and five police officers.

Nichols can be heard screaming "mom" several times during the gut-wrenching clips, which appear to show officers beating and pepper-spraying him after he ran from a traffic stop arrest.

Nichols died at the age of 29 on Jan. 10, three days after the violent confrontation.

The five Memphis Police Department officers involved in his arrest -- Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith -- were fired and then charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nichols' death.

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Jan 27, 2023, 10:22 AM EST

Timing of body camera footage release

The city plans to publicly release the body camera footage of Nichols' arrest sometime after 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said.

"As we have said all along, we wanted to ensure the proper legal steps were followed and that the family of Mr. Nichols had the opportunity to view the video footage privately before we released it to the public," Strickland said in a statement Thursday night.

"It is clear that these officers violated the department's policies and training. But we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again," he continued, noting the city is initiating an independent review of the specialized units' training, policies and operations.