‘Eyes are on Memphis’: Shelby County commissioners, officials call for peaceful protest

Residents of Memphis and Shelby County have the right to have their voices heard in the wake of horrific tragedy, but they should do it peacefully, said Shelby County Commission Chairman Mickell Lowery.

“Seeing the video first-hand, it’s horrendous,” he said. “But what we’re asking people to do, what Tyre’s mother has asked….is to let your voices be heard in a peaceful manner.”

Multiple Shelby County commissioners gathered Friday ahead of the release of a video expected to show the beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died three days after a Jan. 7 traffic stop by the Memphis Police Department. Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, who is running for Memphis mayor, Memphis NAACP President Van Turner, also a mayoral candidate, State Sen. London Lamar, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway and Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy were also in attendance.

The death of Nichols, who died Jan. 10, is under investigation and has led to the firing, arrests and indictments of five Memphis police officers.

Former officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills, Jr. are charged with one count of second-degree murder, aggravated assault-acting in concert, aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and one count of official oppression, court records show.

Lowery said conversations need to be had about law enforcement culture and our city.

“Let’s be a model for the nation, because eyes are on Memphis today,” he added.

Lamar said “it was heartbreaking to see a mother have to grieve in front of the whole world” and that she never wanted to see that happen again. That means “tearing down a culture of police brutality,” she said.

Bonner said his 88-year-old father, a former MPD officer, called him crying about what happened to Nichols.

“We cannot condone this, we do not condone this,” Bonner says.

Activists and Nichols’ family called earlier Friday for the disbandment of the MPD unit called SCORPION, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, that some of the officers belonged to.

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Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland on Friday afternoon said the SCORPION unit is inactive and has been inactive since “this event happened.”

At the Friday press conference, Bonner said he didn’t think it was an appropriate time to talk about what mayoral candidates would do with the SCORPION unit if elected.

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis said Wednesday night more officers are under investigation in addition to the five charged, though she didn’t specify how many or the nature of the policy violations. In addition, a Memphis Fire Department spokeswoman said Monday two Memphis Firefighters involved in the initial care of Nichols were “relieved of duty” pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

The unit focuses on preventing auto theft and gang-related violence and was structured to have some coordination with the Multi-Agency Gang Unit. Davis has also announced an independent review of all of the departments specialized units.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tyre Nichols death: Shelby County officials call for peaceful protests