CNN's Shimon Prokupecz
joins us now from Memphis.
I know, Shimon,
you've been asking for days questions
about the Scorpion unit.
You had been told by sources
that perhaps
his officers were in the unit.
They were short time ago.
We learned that unit
that these officers belong to,
it has been deactivated.
What more can you tell us?
Yeah, and certainly this is a significant
move here by the police chief
in Memphis to do this.
And this was something
that community members wanted.
And, of course,
Ben Crump
and the family of Terry Nichols wanted.
And today,
the police chief granting them
they're granting them their request,
their wishes.
Let me read to you
what the police
chief said in her decision to do this.
She says that in the process of listening
intently to the family of Tyree Nichols
community leaders
and the uninvolved officers
who have done quality work
in their assignments,
it is in the best interests of all
to permanently deactivate
the Scorpion unit.
The officers
currently assigned to the unit agree
unreservedly with the next step.
Now, some people in this community
will probably take issue
with her, saying that
some they are doing quality work
or that the unit as a whole
has been doing quality work.
People here in the community
have been complaining
about the work
that this unit has been doing.
You heard Ben Crump
and you in your interview with him
tell you that they have heard from people
in this community who have raised issues.
So look,
at least for now,
the police
chief granting
the wishes of the community
of these family members
and disbanding this unit.
Now, the Scorpion unit was created
to basically target
violent areas of Memphis.
And what it stands for
is the street crimes operation
to restore peace in our neighborhood.
And the mayor
and the police chief who are launching it
in November of 20, 21 and mostly intended
to focus on homicides and robberies.
They drive around in unmarked cars.
And as we saw in the video,
very aggressively
what they did to Tyree Nichols,
pulling him out of the car,
throwing him to the ground.
And Ben Crump,
of course,
talking about the culture of this union.
And that very much is in focus
now as all of these investigations
continue Pam.
Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.
Well, mostly
peaceful protest
marches are playing out
across the country for a second day.
I want to check in with Polo
Sandoval in New York.
You've been tracking everything, Polo,
and keeping with
pleas made by Nichols mother.
People have refrained
from the kind of response we saw
after the George Floyd
video was released.
What have you been hearing?
And based on what we're hearing
from police departments
throughout the country,
a majority of these demonstrations
that we've seen from coast
to coast,
we're talking Boston,
that Atlanta, Los Angeles,
they have remained relatively peaceful,
except for
perhaps a few isolated incidents
that have taken place.
But really what that does.
21 minutes of an action
that you just mentioned,
Pamela, that's
certainly fueling that outrage
for so many people.
And they're echoing
Benjamin Crump's call to basically expand
the scope of charges
beyond those five officers.
And that is why
tonight we are preparing to see yet
another wave of these demonstrations
in cities
throughout the United States,
one happening
as we speak
here in New York
City, in Washington
Square Park,
where a group of individuals
are peacefully assembling
with a long line of speakers.
Our affiliate at WCBS had an opportunity
to speak
to one of the leaders of that event
that's taking place right now,
just a short time ago.
So we are out here to fight
and call for justice once again
and continuously
because the work did not stop in 20, 28
and stop in 20, 21.
And it did not stop at 20, 22.
We are still here
and we are still fighting.
And so justice is done.
You know, having covered this
before or similar situations before,
it is a very similar message
to what we've heard
from demonstrators in the past.
But we're also hearing that
something is certainly different.
That swift response
that we saw from officials in Memphis
when it comes to the charges,
that is certainly something
that many demonstrations are
demonstrators are accepting.
And also police departments
from around the country
joining in that outrage,
not just because
of the actions of the officers,
but of course, the inaction as well.
Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.
Joining us now
is Tennessee
Congressman Steve Cohen,
whose district includes much of Memphis.
Congressman, good to see you.
You're the fourth generation
of your family to call Memphis home.
How is your city doing today?
I think the city is doing pretty well.
It's been unnerving experience to see
one of our fellow citizens
who was such a nice, innocent
free spirited young man
murdered by the Memphis
Police Department.
My first job at a law school was working
as a civilian attorney
for the Memphis Police Department.
Nearly 50 years ago.
And I taught officers in the academy.
I worked on
cases that were disciplinary actions
and so
and so I know the police department.
And they started, what, 50 years ago?
It's much better than it was.
It still needs a lot more work.
We've got a new U.S.
attorney
we've got a new
district attorney general
and a new director of chief of police.
And they've done an excellent job
in getting off this early
and showing
that the city
and the federal government
with its location here in West Tennessee,
want to bring about justice.
And the federal government
wants to help and will help.
I know that
you just but
it's unnerving
and it's just terribly sad.
Certainly.
And just picking up on what you mentioned
there, you used to be an adviser
or a legal advisor for the department.
I'm curious
if you were still
advising the department.
What would you suggest?
Do you think the other officers
who were on that scene
should also be let go
and possibly charge? What do you think?
I'm not sure if they should
be let go or not,
but I know they should be
have an administrative hearing
and possibly be
reprimanded in some manner.
There were at least four other officers
on the scene
that stood around and did nothing.
The duty to render
aid is a major part of a police officer's
job to protect and serve.
And those officers did not do that.
There were probably other
officers involved.
There was an officer back at the scene
who was,
I think,
a sixth member of the Scorpion unit
who didn't go to the scene.
He was the person who drove up
in the first video that had his
body camera or his camcorder working.
And he said, I hope they stop you.
I'm afraid what
he said
was indicative
of the attitude of the Scorpion unit
and maybe police in general,
but more likely the Scorpion
unit specifically
to take their aggressions out
and take the law into their own hands.
And this is always wrong.
So I think
I don't know how they've been trained.
I'm sure they've been trained well,
but I don't know.
This group
particularly learned their lesson
and they acted on on basically
blue testosterone and ego.
But it started with that
when they grabbed him out of the car,
it was it. Excuse me.
Excuse me.
But let me show us your driver's license.
And why did you run that light
or why did you run
out of the lane of whatever
it could have been?
We saw them all
giving would
probably were George Santos type
descriptions of what occurred earlier
when they were saying he
we didn't have traffic.
He was in the wrong lane.
He reached for my gun.
These were alibis that they were posting,
knowing they were videoing
and they were laying out their defense.
And I couldn't trust any one of them
because they didn't
take their oath of office
up to their heart.
And they just beat him to hell.
And there were three of them.
The two of them, one
kicked him, one punched him, and one
hit him with the baton
and the other
to help all five and rotten apples.
And I commend the police chief
for doing what she did.
But she and Mary Strickland,
both of whom want to do right
or had the toughest job coming forward,
they need to clean
the Department of bad apples.
They need to get intensive training.
They need to make sure
de-escalation comes first.
I've had a bill for about eight years
in the Congress
who was part of George Floyd
saying that we need to have
training of officers
in other ethnic groups to understand
ethnic differences
and to look at de-escalating
tense situations.
The Memphis
Police Department trained,
but they need to make it
more of a regular part of the curricula
that is undertaken
and conserved
and protocol taken out by the officers
to de-escalate.
There was no effort to de-escalate?
No, not at all.
How do you change the culture?
I mean, as you said,
you were an adviser there 30 years ago.
You said it's better now than it was.
I can't imagine how how it was back then.
If you were saying this better now, what
what can actually be done to change
policing and the culture
Well, one thing is
you can get more money.
And the federal government
has moneys available starting this next
spring with grants.
The Memphis
police department
should apply
for to hire officers
in high population areas.
We need to have more money to
pay officers
so we can get a better grade of officer.
And we had some differences
with the police association
over compensation,
over health benefits, over
retirement benefits.
And a lot of police officers
who left Memphis
and went to higher paying jobs in Dallas
and other cities,
they could afford to pay more.
We need to be able to pay more
to compete with other cities
to get the best and brightest.
I don't know if these five guys,
they certainly worked hard
more recently
when the benefits were the least.
So we might not be getting
the cream of the crop.
Obviously, they were not
the cream of the crop.
That's what it is.
You just
have to have more intensive training,
ATF, the better
supervision your commanders have to
stress this it scene.
I'd like to see a return
to the old community already in policing
where the neighborhoods know
the policemen,
the police people,
women and men are in the
in the communities making friends,
helping people and getting tips.
And we don't do enough of that
rather than have
Scorpion units out to pounce on people
like police.
I mean, they pounced on him
when he got out of the car throwing out.
They were so nervous
you wondered
if they were hopped up on something.
They were out of control
and not very professional at all.
But we need to have officers
in the neighborhood knows
and who know the neighborhood.
And I think that's a more effective
manner of policing.