#the scorpion unit

[ausetkmt]

Tyre Nichols' Mom Slams Cops for Not Looking at Her in the Face as They Pleaded Not Guilty

All five of the former Memphis officers charged with murdering Tyre Nichols—a 29-year-old Black man whose beating last month was captured on cameras and sent the nation into fury—pleaded not guilty to the charges against them in their first court hearing on Friday morning.

The parents of Tyre Nichols take the stage with their attorney Ben Crump at a news conference in January.

Alyssa Pointer/Reuters

Following the officers’ arraignment, RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, said she still feels “numb” about her son’s death and that she’s living a “nightmare.”

She called out the officers for apparently refusing to look her in the face during the court proceeding—the first time she’s faced her son’s accused killers in person.

“I need each and every one of those officers to look me in the face,” Wells said at the press conference. “They haven’t done that, they haven’t had the courage to look me in the face after what they did to my son. They’re going to see me at every court date until we get justice for my son.”

After the suspects made their not-guilty pleas, Judge James Jones asked all parties involved in the case to be patient.

“We understand that there may be some high emotions in this case, but we ask that you continue to be patient with us,” Jones said. “Everyone involved wants this case to be concluded as quickly as possible. But it’s important for you all to understand that the state of Tennessee as well as each one of these defendants have an absolute right to a fair trial.”

Jones said he “will not allow any behavior” that might “jeopardize” the legitimacy of the trial for the five officers.

The second-degree murder charge the group faces carries a sentence of 15 to 60 years in prison.

Nichols died on Jan. 10, three days after he was pulled over for allegedly driving recklessly—an encounter that Nichols fled from after it quickly turned violent, footage released by the police department shows.

After fleeing on foot, a group of officers from the city’s since-disbanded SCORPION unit tracked Nichols down and began mercilessly beating him, video shows. Authorities say it was this assault that killed Nichols.

Footage from both security cameras and officers’ body cameras show that Nichols never attempted to fight back as he was beaten.

The officers involved have been free on bond since their arrest last month.

Bean, Martin III, Haley, Smith, and Mills Jr. were promptly fired and charged after the beating. A sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, was later fired but not criminally charged for his handling of Nichols’ initial traffic stop. Bodycam footage captured him using a taser on Nichols and later declaring, “I hope they stomp his ass.”

An attorney for the Nichols family, Ben Crump, said Friday that all rumors surrounding a personal feud between Nichols and one of the officers aren’t true.

“All these rumors that are circulating are bogus and untrue,” Crump said.

Nichols’ father, Rodney Wells, said Friday is a “glorious day” because it’s the first step in obtaining justice for his son. Crump said he hopes the trial will be completed within the year, just as George Floyd’s killer was promptly convicted in 2020.

“We have video,” Crump said. “When people in our community do something on video it doesn't take a lot of time to prosecute them.”

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

[ssruis]

Aside from the noble platypus I also feel like rui would really enjoy these animals:

Mola mola/Sunfish

Anteater

Echidna

Kiwi

Kākāpō

Axolotl

Horseshoe crab

Gibbon

[blackros78]

Scorpions lead guitarist Uli Jon Roth performing at the Marquee in London, England on March 29, 1976.

[scalproie]

HELLOOOOOO

[scorpion-flower]

I am not surprised Sweden won, but I am surprised that the country to go up against it was Finland.

Germany and my beloved Lord of the Lost being snubbed was unacceptable. It's not like there were not other worse entries (UK, Poland, Belgium and Ukraine to name a few) but I am glad that at least other entries that I loved got some appreciation (Australia, Italy, Cyprus)

P.S. Hannah Waddingham is so hot, I can't even.

[commiepinkofag]

September 10, 2009 Atlanta's Police Vice Squad and paramilitary 'Red Dog' unit illegally raided the Atlanta Eagle Bar

Settlements from lawsuits filed by victims of the raid reached over 1 million.

Per a court order, the APD created a one-hour training video which all officers have to watch and answer an accompanying set of questions.

The 'Red Dog Unit' was disbanded and replaced with another unit — currently named 'Titan'.

The Titan Unit "will have to be more aggressive," Police Chief Rodney Bryant told a House committee. But, Bryant also assured lawmakers "in no way" would it "replace what Red Dog was." — 2021

'Red Dog' was at one point was led by Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis, who then created the 'Scorpion Unit' in Memphis — the 'Scorpion Unit' subsequently responsible for the murder of Tyre Nichols.

Police falsely imprisoned Atlanta Eagle bar patrons, employees in raid, rules citizen review board

Among the many racist and homophobic slurs used by police that night, an officer was heard saying, “Raiding a gay bar is fun, we should do it every week.” ['alleged']

The owner of the Atlanta Eagle stated that the city's actions following the ruling have been "nothing more than a slap in the face of the gay community".

Review finds widespread wrongdoing in Atlanta Eagle bar raid [2011] Two officers from Atlanta Eagle raid in trouble again; complaints allege groping, body search [2011]

The officers named involved in the Atlanta Eagle raid were: Sgt. John Brock, Sgt. Willie Adams III, Sgt. Kelley Collier, Officer Melonie Mague, Officer Robert Goodwin, Officer Stallone Davis, Investigator Bennie Bridges, Officer Jeremy Edwards, Officer Dimitri Jaques, Officer Dione Meredith, Officer James Menzoian, Officer Cayenne Mayes, Officer Christopher Dowd, Officer Craig Condon, Investigator Herman Glass, Investigator Timothy McClain, Officer Brandon Jackson, Officer Marlon Noble, Officer Stephanie Upton, Officer William Porter, Officer William B. Walters, Officer Vincente Marcano, Officer Darnell Perry and Officer Jared Watkins.

14 years after the notorious raid…

The Eagle reopens in a new location, after closure during the Covid epidemic.

[nothisisalex]

The 2022 Paqui One Chip Challenge is no joke. The Carolina Reaper pepper and Scorpion pepper spare no one. 💀🦂

Full Vid

[alphabetsoup-blogposts]

The former Memphis officer who spoke with CBS News said with a large number of officers retiring from the department, younger, less experienced members of the department were being tapped for the specialized SCORPION teams. They were not well-trained and not properly managed, he said, describing the training as consisting of three days of PowerPoint presentations, one day of criminal apprehension instruction and one day at the firing range.

[ausetkmt]

Former Memphis police officer on the SCORPION unit and the fired cops charged in Tyre Nichols' death - CBS News

Memphis police "permanently deactivate" SCORPION unit Memphis police "deactivate" SCORPION unit whose officers are charged in death of Tyre Nichols 03:51

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.

"I never thought this would happen," the former officer told CBS News. The former officer, who recently left the department after 10 years, spoke only on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

He said he knew each of the charged ex-officers and worked closely at times with one of them, Demetrius Haley. The five were fired from their jobs and are facing charges of second-degree murder for the brutal beating of Nichols after a Jan. 7 traffic stop. 

Morale is very low at the Memphis Police Department right now, according to the former officer.

"This is not an indication of who the department is," he said. "We deal with very bad people. There are fights and foot chases but we all have an understanding when it's time to stop."

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. Video from the scene, released by the city on Friday, shows Nichols was severely beaten. He died three days later in the hospital.

The Director of Tennessee Bureau of Investigation David Rausch said he was "sickened" and "shocked,'' by the video footage he viewed of the beating. "Let me be clear: what happened here does not at all reflect proper policing. This was wrong. This was criminal.''

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy joined Rausch at the news conference Thursday to announce the charges against the five fired officers.

"We want justice for Tyre Nichols," Mulroy said. "…The world is watching us and we need to show the world what lessons we can learn from this tragedy."

In the interview with CBS News, the former Memphis police officer described 30-year-old Haley as "a young, athletic, confident guy." 

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.

CBS News is attempting to reach a representative of Haley's for comment.

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. 

The name SCORPION stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods. There are more than two dozen officers assigned to SCORPION teams. They  wear black hoodies and tactical black vests with "POLICE" emblazoned across the front and back, and drive dark colored Dodge Chargers marked with a SCORPION seal. 

The crime-suppression teams patrol in groups and at times use justified low-level traffic stops as a way to find violent criminals, drugs or weapons.

"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."

In a news bulletin published on Jan. 27, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said, "Since this event happened, the SCORPION Unit has been and remains inactive," though he didn't clarify when the unit was deactivated. Strickland also said that the city is "initiating an outside, independent review of the training, policies and operations of our specialized units." 

Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis told CNN that investigators "have not been able to substantiate" the initial report of reckless driving that prompted Nichols' arrest. And Nichols family attorney Antonio Romanucci questioned the justification for the stop, saying on CNN, "we know that the saturation and suppression units do use pretext to stop in order to carry out this … wolf pack mentality of policing."

The former Memphis officer who spoke with CBS News said with a large number of officers retiring from the department, younger, less experienced members of the department were being tapped for the specialized SCORPION teams. They were not well-trained and not properly managed, he said, describing the training as consisting of three days of PowerPoint presentations, one day of criminal apprehension instruction and one day at the firing range.

The Memphis Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The officers charged in Nichols' death were hired from 2017 to 2020. They were 24 to 32 years old.

"You have to have crime suppression units,'' the former officer said. "You can't get crime down by only showing up at schools and talking to the kids and putting up posters."

He stressed that the department is made up of truly dedicated officers committed to their mission, committed to helping people.

"They still have to go out each day and get to work. They still have to fight crime."

[schlock-luster-video]

On October 11, 1957, The Black Scorpion debuted in the United States.