Incidents like these serve only to damage and demonize law enforcement as a profession. The media coverage of it feeds into that narrative.
I want to know how these "cops" were able to be hired in the first place. The excuse for this event was supposedly a traffic violation for reckless driving. I have stopped a few people and cited them for reckless driving and unless I had PC of a more serious violation, I never asked them to get out of the vehicle. I want to see the dash cam footage that led to the stop and the initial contact that led up to going hands on. And havent cops figured out yet that their every move is covered either by cell phone video, dash cam, or body cams?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:


I find it hard to believe 4-5 guys can't subdue a scrawny ass guy like that without beating him nearly unconscious.

125lb illegal grabbed my gun one night. He was spaced on PCP and nothing worked on him. I went up and down the use of force continuum, broke an ASP, broke a Taser, fists and kicks didn’t work. Finally hit him with my radio as he was tossing me around like a rag doll. Hit him with a folding metal chair which exploded into pieces, hit him with a white cutting board which only slowed him for a second. It all came to a stop when I hit him in the head with a box of ceramic floor tiles, he fell and I was able to cuff him before he got up again and began bull rushing me into the wall.

I found out at the hospital that he had a fractured skull. I got a few broken ribs, split lip-my vest did a good job of protecting me from worse injuries.

PCP is no joke. And the size of the person doesn’t matter. Until you’ve fought someone intent on killing you and using all their strength you can only imagine.

But again, these Memphis cops were wrong. And I’d bet it ain’t the first time.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Incidents like these serve only to damage and demonize law enforcement as a profession.

Yes, a substantial portion of the population already hates the police even when they do their job as best they can and with the best intentions, and indefensible incidents such as this give the cop haters reason to say "You see?"

quote:

I want to know how these "cops" were able to be hired in the first place.

I think the left is to blame for this lowering of standards.

The phrase "universal condemnation" comes to mind. I don't see anyone defending these five "officers".

Fraternal Order of Police president Patrick Yoes infuriated by assault during traffic stop

"According to reports, the fact that none of those officers—NONE of them—acted to stop this vicious attack, only compounds my horror—it is sickening," Yoes said. "The men arrested and charged for this crime have rights, the presumption of innocence, and the due process protections of anyone accused of a crime. But the bottom line here is that Tyre Nichols, his family, and our entire country need to see justice done—swiftly and surely."

Yoes said that based on what he's heard about the incident, it doesn't sound like legitimate police work.

"According to reports, the fact that none of those officers—NONE of them—acted to stop this vicious attack, only compounds my horror—it is sickening," Yoes said. "The men arrested and charged for this crime have rights, the presumption of innocence, and the due process protections of anyone accused of a crime. But the bottom line here is that Tyre Nichols, his family, and our entire country need to see justice done—swiftly and surely."

Yoes said that based on what he's heard about the incident, it doesn't sound like legitimate police work.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
The phrase "universal condemnation" comes to mind. I don't see anyone defending these five "officers".

When it first happened and they got relieved that night there was a smattering of "dude fought and now the city is just hanging them out to dry." That stopped very, very quickly as the word started to get out as to what had actually occurred.

No one with any humanity is going to try to defend that. It's the single most horrific display of police misconduct I've ever seen.

We are now well into Day Two and Memphis remains calm. The protests have proceeded without incident. I've heard that there was a group of out of town agitators that showed up at one event and were shown the door by the legitimate protestors. I don't know if that's true or not, but it does sound like the Memphis that I love.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:


I find it hard to believe 4-5 guys can't subdue a scrawny ass guy like that without beating him nearly unconscious.

125lb illegal grabbed my gun one night. He was spaced on PCP and nothing worked on him. I went up and down the use of force continuum, broke an ASP, broke a Taser, fists and kicks didn’t work. Finally hit him with my radio as he was tossing me around like a rag doll. Hit him with a folding metal chair which exploded into pieces, hit him with a white cutting board which only slowed him for a second. It all came to a stop when I hit him in the head with a box of ceramic floor tiles, he fell and I was able to cuff him before he got up again and began bull rushing me into the wall.

I found out at the hospital that he had a fractured skull. I got a few broken ribs, split lip-my vest did a good job of protecting me from worse injuries.

PCP is no joke. And the size of the person doesn’t matter. Until you’ve fought someone intent on killing you and using all their strength you can only imagine.

But again, these Memphis cops were wrong. And I’d bet it ain’t the first time.

That's a crazy story, wow! One on one though right? Not five on one. I have seen videos of encounters with people on PCP, they feel no pain.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
The excuse for this event was supposedly a traffic violation for reckless driving.

I don't believe for a minute that he was reckless driving. No Proof. There are no witnesses. None. Certainly not the "Memphis Five."

Nothing about Tyre says street thug. Nothing about him says PCP.

So far all we have is a Fed-Ex worker close to his own middle class neighborhood, headed home.

It seems to me that this was all about ego with those "officers". They have disgraced all the police officers who strive to do the best job they can, and that means most of them.

I have no doubt that every police officer- current or retired- in this forum knows what it means to put aside their personal feelings during the performance of their duty, even though this must at times be a very difficult thing to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:

20:41:20 Rescue appears to arrive and starts treatment on scene. It's really hard to see what is happening but it looks like he isn't transported until after 21:00hrs

Wow, the medics on scene have been relieved of duty. What in the world.....

https://www.actionnews5.com/20...vestigation-ongoing/

from the article in the link...

“There is concern if they were not there in a timely manner and they didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” said Councilwoman Robinson.

Placing someone on administrative leave is standard procedure while an internal investigation regarding a serious matter is ongoing.

In a situation like this, the medics will continue to get paid until the investigation is complete, and then if cleared, return to work. If not cleared, they could be looking as disciplinary action or termination, at which point their paid leave would end and they'd be fired.

The 5 ex-cops were likely also initially placed on administrative leave as the department began looking into the incident, before being shortly terminated as the facts became clear.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Incidents like these serve only to damage and demonize law enforcement as a profession. The media coverage of it feeds into that narrative.
I want to know how these "cops" were able to be hired in the first place.

This may explain part of it.

Until recently, all newly hired officers had to live in Shelby County.
In March, 2022, Governor Bill Lee has signed State Senator Brian Kelsey’s bill to allow first responders across Tennessee to live where they choose.

https://www.fox13memphis.com/n...J25GFLI6BWB7LKAFACM/


There are a lot of good officers at MPD. My son is one of them. He patrols some of the worst parts of the city and I worry about him daily. It's a bad situation.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:

20:41:20 Rescue appears to arrive and starts treatment on scene. It's really hard to see what is happening but it looks like he isn't transported until after 21:00hrs

Wow, the medics on scene have been relieved of duty. What in the world.....

There's no excuse for a 20 minute scene time there.

Let me get this right, these 5 "officers" were part of an "elite policing unit" called the "scorpions"?

Explainer-Tyre Nichols Case: What Is Memphis' Controversial SCORPION Police Unit?

quote:

Memphis officials have said the unit comprises about 40 officers in four teams concentrating on crime hot spots. Each team has members focused on car theft, gang investigations and "crime suppression," Mayor Jim Strickland said in a speech in January 2022.

A 2021 video about the unit's launch showed several dozen officers, mostly men, going through roll call before heading on patrols. Some wore plain clothes and drove unmarked cars.

In its first few months of existence, between October 2021 and Jan. 23, 2022, SCORPION made 566 arrests. Of those, 390 were felony arrests, according to Strickland. Officers seized tens of thousands of dollars and over 250 weapons, the mayor said....

The Nichols case has raised concerns that the unit strayed from its core mission, had inadequate oversight and used tactics that increased the risk of violence.

Ya think? What exactly was the training regimen for this "elite" unit?

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:

Ya think? What exactly was the training regimen for this "elite" unit?

Watching Training Day apparently. Maybe more than once.

My experience with "elite" or specialized units is that they require increased supervision, not less, in order to function lawfully and properly.
For example, our dope unit often had a prosecutor or prosecutors investigator present with them on operations or raids.

I imagine that the "Scorpion Team" is soon to be only a memory.

Hey, whadda ya know?

Memphis police 'permanently deactivate' SCORPION Unit

Dang- and they really took out all the stops coming up with that name…

Street
Crimes
Operations to
Restore
Peace
in
Our
Neighborhoods

As an aside, I hate all this acronym stuff, where, rather than creating an acronym from a logical name- NRA, for example- they create a (usually) convoluted name so that they can have a cool acronym, such as SCORPION.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:


That's a crazy story, wow! One on one though right? Not five on one. I have seen videos of encounters with people on PCP, they feel no pain.

1:1
The taser didn’t work, I’d never met anyone on PCP before, and I was the first cop in town who had…it was the beginning of a long PCP high fights/encounters we had.
The King incident in LA was actually a PCP fight-and that’s why it looked so bad with the cops swarming him, baton strikes, back off and give orders, swarm in…rinse repeat…
You should read the book Presumed Guilty by Sgt Coon who got arrested-he did explain the how and why what they did.
https://www.amazon.com/Presume...Affair/dp/0895265079

but yeah, 1 vs 1 there is a reason as to why deadly force was used vs 5:1

/drift