Shelby County district attorney Steven J. Mulroy announced that his office has dropped more than 30 cases involving the five police officers charged with killing Tyre Nichols.
Mulroy made the announcement on Aug. 17, saying that at least 100 cases worked by former Memphis Police Department officers Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith had been reviewed following the death of Tyre Nichols on Jan. 10.
Nichols died from blunt force trauma after being detained and beaten by the officers at a traffic stop in Memphis on Jan. 7, as shown in video released publicly. The five men were charged with second-degree murder. The ex-MPD officers were also charged with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct.
Mulroy said that at least 30 cases worked by the former officers were being dropped following the review. At least 10 more cases resulted in reduced charges.
“As in any such case, the primary consideration is concern about the credibility as witnesses of discharged officers,” read a statement from the DA, CNN reports.
According to ABC24 News Memphis, the cases dropped were arrests made by the officers while they were working for MPD’s SCORPION unit. The outlet claimed that Mulroy’s decision would result in “dozens of bad guys” going free.
“That’s what happens when you start looking into other cases being handled by a disgraced group of Memphis cops,” said ABC24 news anchor Richard Ransom. “Those cases are now tainted because they were handled by these five former officers.”
The former MPD officers were five of the 40-member, now-disbanded SCORPION unit. SCORPION stood for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods before being disbanded on Jan. 28.
The unit was widely criticized for failing in its mission to reduce the city’s assault, homicide and robbery rates and instead used aggressive tactics that resulted in escalated violence. The unit made 566 arrests before being deactivated and was accused of working without adequate oversight while harassing minority communities.
Attorney Claiborne Ferguson represents several clients whose cases were dropped and noted that the majority of them were victims of excessive force by the SCORPION unit.
“I’ve never seen the DA’s office have to dismiss so many cases because of one incident,” he said. “We knew that the SCORPION unit was using excessive force on most of our cases. We were aware of that. We just never had it where it was so obvious and so well documented on film.”
Ferguson went on to say that many victims would not get justice as a result of the dropped cases while blaming the five officers for dismissals. Nichols was struck with a Taser, pepper sprayed and violently beaten by the five ex-cops during the traffic stop.
The officers claimed that he was driving recklessly. Ex-officer Preston Hemphil, who arrived after the beating, was terminated from MPD for his involvement in Tyre’s death. A lawsuit filed after Nichols’ death called the beating a “modern-day lynch mob.”
Mulroy first announced the charges against the former police officers on Jan. 26.
“We are here today because of a tragedy that wounds one family deeply but also hurts us all,” said Mulroy. “The death of Tyre Nichols.”
A judge will hear motions from the defendants to have their cases tried separately on Sept. 15.
