MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION Unit may have been unknown to most Memphians, but those who say they had encounters with the special unit knew plenty about their tactics.
WREG is trying to determine how many complaints have been filed against the unit, which included all five Memphis Police officers fired in the aftermath of the Tyre Nichols beating.
WREG was the first to tell you about Cornell McKinney, a Hickory Hill man who says he was stopped and snatched from a car by the same officers, just days before Nichols’ encounter.
McKinney says he could get no response to his complaints to Police Internal Affairs over how he was stopped without reason. But his case is now going national, and may help launch a deeper investigation.
“All I heard is, ‘Freeze get out the car. Put your … hands up before I blow your head off,'” McKinney said. “So I put my hands up and one of the officers proceeded to come to the car, and he physically pulled me out by my shoulder with a gun no more than a foot away from my head.”
McKinney said he has signed on with Ben Crump’s law firm, the firm representing Nichols’ family, and on “CBS This Morning,” Crump said there is more to come in this case.
Crump has recounted McKinney’s earlier encounter in some of his recent press appearances.
“I said, now they really hurt somebody. It could have been prevented if Internal Affairs took action like I was asking them to do,” McKinney said.
Memphis City Council Member Patrice Robinson says, after getting the first presentation by the Memphis Police Department introducing the Scorpion Unit in 2021, she is not aware of many updates on their successes or any problems.
That’s something she says needs to change.
“We’re going to have to have some professional support, so that we can get the information that we need,” Robinson said. “The community is asking for data transparency, and I believe that they are correct and asking for that, especially where we are today.”
Over the weekend, MPD announced it is disbanding the SCORPION Unit. WREG has asked for a copy of all complaints made against the unit and the outcome of those complaints.