Cops charged with the murder of Tire Nichols beat up another black man three days earlier
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The former police officers charged with the murder of Tire Nichols have now been charged with beating another black man just three days earlier.
Monterrious Harris, 22, says he was beaten by the same ex-police officers on Outland Road in Hickory Hill on January 4, just a few miles from where Nichols was arrested.
Members of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit, Tadarrious Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and Desmond Mills Jr, were fired due to their involvement in Nichols’ death.
All five are also listed on the arrest affidavit for the Harris incident.
A police report indicates that Harris was arrested for driving toward detectives in his car and reversing at high speed, before attempting to flee the scene.
22-year-old Monterrious Harris (pictured with injuries) says he was beaten by the same former police officers charged with the murder of Tire Nichols.
Tire Nichols, pictured, was bludgeoned to death by officers on January 7 and died three days later from his injuries at the hospital.
Indicted for second degree murder are (top, left to right) Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, and (bottom, left to right) Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith
But the 22-year-old said officers approached him and threatened to shoot him if he didn’t get out of his car, punched him and smashed his head on the concrete.
The alleged attack on January 4 occurred just three days before Tire Nichols, 29, was beaten by the same five officers. Nichols died in hospital three days after the violent confrontation.
The five officers have since been charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression and have been fired from their jobs, while the SCORPION unit has been disbanded.
Now Monterrious Harris says he was waiting for his cousin at Twin Oak Apartments when the cops also approached him.
He said the policemen, who were wearing ski masks, “came out of nowhere” as he initially thought he was being robbed before he saw the officer’s vest. local memphis informed.
One officer banged on the window of his Chrysler 300 and the rest surrounded him. One threatened to shoot him if he didn’t get out of the car.
Harris said: ‘I was scared like I didn’t know what to expect. After they already had me pulled over and stuff, they kept saying how they wanted to air out my car.
‘One officer was laughing at the other officer like, ‘Oh, you’ve got your red beam on.’ He said “yes, he was ready to shoot her”.
Harris’ arrest warrant lists the same five police officers who beat Tire Nichols three days later.
According to Harris, one officer grabbed him and hit him “a couple of times” while the others “came up to me.”
One policeman even hit his head and punched him in the face, he alleges.
They only stopped beating him when he yelled for his cousin and the neighbors came out.
Harris was taken to a criminal justice facility before being taken to the hospital and later released into police custody.
The police report charges him with evading arrest, possession of a controlled substance, a convicted felon in possession of a handgun, which Harris says belonged to his cousin.
He has launched a federal lawsuit to sue the city of Memphis and its police department.
Harris’ attorneys at Spence Partners Law said, “We filed suit because we believe we can prove that there is policy and custom in MPD that they violate the rights of young black men like Monterrious.”
Harris said: “Know your rights, for example, because these officers just do things and take action because they don’t expect you to know.”
The alleged attack was just three days before Tire Nichols was fatally beaten by the same police officers.
Heartbreaking video showed Nichols crying for his mother as officers pinned him to the ground, pepper sprayed him in the face, kicked and punched him in the head, while beating him with a metal baton.
Police hit him at least nine times during the nearly five-minute altercation, just 80 yards from his home, as they continued to yell profanity at him.
The brutal timeline of Tire Nichols’ murder is shown above: He had to wait for nearly half an hour on the sidewalk for significant medical treatment.
Then, even after paramedics arrived, Nichols had to wait nearly half an hour slumped on the pavement for any significant medical treatment.
Eventually, he was transported to a local hospital, where he would succumb to his injuries three days later.
In its first months of existence, between October 2021 and January 23, 2022, SCORPION made 566 arrests.
Founded in October 2021 due to pressure over rising crime, SCORPION stands for Operation Street Crime to Restore Peace to our Neighborhoods. Its mandate is to stop homicides, assaults and robberies.
Memphis officials have said the unit consists of about 40 officers in four teams that focus on crime hotspots.
Nichols’ case raised concerns that the unit strayed from its primary mission, had inadequate supervision and used tactics that increased the risk of violence.
It is not the first time such units have faced scrutiny.
In 2020, following the police murder of George Floyd, New York City dismantled its Anti-Crime Unit, which operated with similar tactics and goals to SCORPION.
Last January, amid a skyrocketing violent crime, the Anti-Crime Unit was clamped down weeks after Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, took office vowing to be tough on crime.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis last month announced a review of all specialized units of the police department, including SCORPION, in response to Nichols’ death. She called the incident “appalling, reckless and inhumane.”