You heard in the press conference
we're talking about the Scorpion unit.
But I want to discuss that.
But I want to just get your overall
impressions of what happened
at this press conference.
The charges
and what led to,
you know, the beating death of this
young man.
Well, a remarkable press conference.
You can tell where everybody's
you know, a state of logic
and emotion is on this.
You heard David Rausch,
the director of the TBI,
as Shimon alluded to,
not only said he was appalled, but
almost sidestepped into a benediction
in the middle of his comments,
giving a blessing to the family
for their suffering
and offering them God's help.
You don't usually see that
in the normally
somewhat defensive posture
of law enforcement agencies
investigating other law
enforcement agencies.
So, you know,
we take that as another sign
of what we see coming.
We did learn new details, which is that
there was a traffic stop
They didn't say what
exactly the stop was for,
although the police said
in their initial statement
reckless driving,
that there was a confrontation
with Terry Nichols
at the traffic stop
that resulted in him
being pepper sprayed.
I believe that's the first time
we've heard that.
That he then fled on foot.
And what we learned
from the police
radio tapes
that we heard
today, Don, was that one of the officers
from the Scorpion unit
gets on the air and says,
what is the address?
This car is registered to?
And it's a it's
a couple of blocks this way
and a couple of blocks that way.
And they put the address over the radio.
So they shifted their search
to see if the suspect was running home.
And that's
where they encountered Terry Nichols
for the second confrontation,
which results in this long, protracted
beating
My understanding from police sources
is that some of that occurred
after he was in handcuffs,
which exacerbates the situation.
You've got this team
a couple of them have body cameras,
a couple of them do not.
And then there's a pole camera
or what they refer to as the sky camera
in Memphis
that is owned by the police department
that records the rest of this from above.
So I believe what authorities are doing
today is bringing in some justice and
and buying some time
before they release that video.
Sara and I both noticed that
they said
there was a pool camera, a sky camera
and then and body camera.
So is there a difference?
What's the difference between the camera
and the sky camera?
Is that a helicopter?
Is that a drone
with the same thing
that the sky camera is the is the name
they give to the cameras
that they've
put on on poles around Memphis?
And then the Scorpion unit.
So the Scorpion unit was started
on December 1220, 21 in response
to a spate of shootings and violence
gunfire, carjackings,
car thefts in Memphis.
They put together 50 police officers,
put them in
plain clothes
with bulletproof vests
that said police on them, unmarked cars
that did not look like unmarked
cars, necessarily
a pickup truck,
a Dodge Challenger or a charger
and sent them out to crime hotspots
to engage within their first three weeks.
They were lauded for picking up
338 arrests that's a very aggressive
posture in three weeks
for 50 police officers.
195 of those were felonies.
95 of those involved weapons.
And they were being touted
as this is an elite crime fighting unit.
That's part of the
organized crime section.
And then
you have this, which raises the question
why were officers who had two
and three years of experience the most?
Six years was the
the most with the most time on.
For those officers
not that experienced,
when you consider that those might be
ten or 12
or 15 year veterans
that go into the specialized units
in a unit
that was out there in this mission.
And without a supervisor,
you yeah.
It's a question just for you
because you're talking about the Scorpion
unit.
We'll talk to someone who
came into contact,
if you will, with the Scorpion unit
who said that
he was scared out of his mind
because the cars were unmarked.
They all came up, a large group.
But something that happened
during the dispatch audio sparked my
my attention
and I'm curious
what you think
about hearing the dispatch audio
where you just mentioned.
They said,
let's check the place,
see where he lives.
If you think a car is stolen,
if you think someone has done something
that's potentially dangerous
for the officers,
would you not have already run
that were on the tags
when you pulled up in the first place?
Would you not have time to just run
the tags?
That's usually what they do.
When I've been pulled over
before, I didn't speak
in the press conference
to the nature of the stop.
That's a very good question.
So, I mean, on the stop,
you might put the tag over as you're
putting yourself out on the stop.
And that would run
the tag for wants or warrants.
Is it a wanted felony or a fugitive
without getting into the registered owner
when he comes back on the radio?
And we're not certain
that that actually happened,
that they ran it in the stop,
but when he comes,
he specifically asked for
what's the address
that that car comes back to.
So, Sara, to your point,
at that point,
he's operating on the information
that it's not stolen,
that it's the driver's car,
and they're going to go to that address
and start looking for him,
which is exactly what they did.
They found him 80 yards from home.
And that's the second confrontation where
they ended up beating him
to the
extent that
it causes his death days later,
Yeah.
I want to bring in Joey Jackson now,
and if we can
put up the the names
of the officers on the screen,
because I think it's important
to point out
who exactly is being charged here.
Justin Smith is one of the officers,
Emmett Martin, the third, Desmond Mills,
Demetrius Haly into Darius being Joey.
The charges second degree murder,
aggravated assault,
two charges of aggravated kidnaping,
two charges
of official misconduct,
one charge of official oppression.
And that is now official.
That was earlier,
according to the Shelby
County Criminal Courts Court records.
Now it's official,
according to the Shelby
County District Attorney
these are very serious charges.
What do they carry?
What are they facing here?
Yeah.
So a few things
that are very significant, Don Sara,
the first of
which is they charge this
after evaluating the video
and making a determination
that all of them
should be charged with the same thing.
Why is that relevant?
It's relevant
because defense attorneys
commonly argue
that mere presence is not enough,
and that's the law
in the event that you're simply there
but not engaging in anything to further
the course of conduct,
it doesn't constitute a crime.
Why is that significant?
It's significant
because it
then would demonstrate that upon
an evaluation of that videotape,
that all of those parties
charge were active participants
with respect to the underlying crime.
That is very important
because it also goes to the issue
as to whether or not they acted.
They didn't act.
They had a duty to intervene.
They didn't do that.
So we could only
without having seen the videotape,
imagine the signify actions
of five officers
engaging in this level of just,
you know, oppression of an individual
whose now is no longer with us
due to the conduct to your question.
When you look at the first charge,
Don, as it relates to the murder,
I'm sure a lot of people are wondering
first degree, second degree,
what's the distinction?
There's two distinctions.
The first distinction
is the distinction
in terms of the level of intent.
If you charge
first degree murder,
the prosecutor then has to demonstrate
you acted with premeditation.
Second degree murder.
On the other hand,
you simply have to demonstrate
that it was a knowing killing,
as you heard the prosecutor say.
What does that mean?
It means that you have to appreciate
and know
that the nature of your conduct
couldn't cause a death.
And so the prosecution will argue
that you can't tell me
in looking at the video prosecution,
I'm sure, will say
as a result of your conduct,
that you could not appreciate
that someone might die as a result.
Very important.
Right now, you look to the punish ment.
If it were a first degree murder
charge, it's
a life or life without parole,
second degree murder charge.
You're looking at 15
to 60 years under the Tennessee statutes
and then of course, is the prosecutor
spoke down to the other charges
relating to the not only assault
but the aggravated
nature of the prosecutor himself
saying, hey, you know what that means.
And so we can all anticipate that
what we're going to see
is pretty grim on the video.
And of course, when it talks
to the issue of kidnaping,
yes, officers may stop and detain
you, Don.
Sarah, under the appropriate
set of circumstances,
did you have reasonable suspicion?
Did you have probable cause?
Right. We'll find out.
Whether the stop itself was legitimate.
But even if the stop is legitimate,
there comes a point
based upon your conduct
where you could exceed that legitimacy
by detaining
someone unlawfully against their will.
And so these charges
very significant, very important,
and can land all of these officers
in jail, essentially,
if it's 15 to 60 years
for the rest of their natural lives.