Tyre Nichols arrest video released by city of Memphis

Disbanding the SCORPION unit of the Memphis Police Department without giving officers new training would be "putting lipstick on a pig," the city council chair said Saturday.

"If ... we give it a new name but they have the same tactics ... if there are no new training ideas, if there are not new directives, then we're just putting lipstick on a pig," Martavius Jones told CNN’s Jim Acosta hours after the permanent deactivation of the squad that had included all five former police officers indicted in Tyre Nichols' deadly beating.

Jones doesn't blame the community’s fear of the police department, he said.

“Now, it is my opinion that it rests with my colleagues and I from a legislative standpoint to put things in place to try to prevent things like this from happening again,” Jones said. “Now, it’s up to the council to act." 

“We need to have an overall review of the various units within law enforcement,” he said, adding the council must listen to the community, then legislate those ideas.

As for any scrutiny of other law enforcement on the scene of Nichols' deadly beating, Jones will “trust the process,” he said.

The Memphis police chief deserves credit for doing her part to charge the five former officers involved in Tyre Nichols’ police beating death with crimes -- and also now must take accountability and help rebuild community trust, the city council chair said Saturday.

“Starting with the head of the police department all the way down to the recruits in the class right now, they have a vast responsibility to go out into this community to rebuild trust,” Martavius Jones told CNN’s Jim Acosta.

“It’s going to be incumbent upon them to be visible, to listen," added Jones, noting he was the “lone” council member to vote against Cerelyn “CJ” Davis' confirmation as chief but is “willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.” 

The civil rights attorney representing Nichols' family also applauded Davis for arresting and, with Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, charging the five Black officers within 20 days of Nichols' vicious encounter with officers near his home.

“When you see police officers commit crimes against citizens, then we want you to act just as swiftly and show, as the chief said, the community needs to see it," Ben Crump said. "But we need to see it, too, when it’s White police officers."

Some background: Davis took charge of the Memphis Police Department only 20 months ago. Known nationally as an advocate for police reform, she touted big plans, including forging new ties with community leaders and working to reduce violent crime -- with hopes to elicit trust in law enforcement in Tennessee’s second-most populous city.

Now, Tyre Nichols' beating death puts her leadership to a crucial test.

Read more about Davis here.

Footage of Memphis officers viciously beating Tyre Nichols reveals a culture of violence in the department's SCORPION unit — which Nichols' family's legal team insisted be scrapped — civil rights attorney Ben Crump told CNN hours after the squad was disbanded for good.

“We think that this was part of the culture of the SCORPION unit. And so we demanded that they disbanded immediately before we see anything like this happen again,” Crump told Pamela Brown on Saturday.

That critical step, though, is not enough, Crump continued.

“I think we need to know if there’s a patten and practice of excessive use of force. I know the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is investigating this killing of Tyre Nichols. But our hope is that we’ll expand the pattern and practice (probe) because many citizens have questioned not just the SCORPION unit but the Memphis Police Department and their policing where this bias towards Black people," he said. "It is important to look into, and ... there are people reaching out and their complaints weren’t being heard before this Tyre Nichols death garnered national attention. That’s concerning."

As the nation absorbs the stunning video of Nichols' deadly encounter with police, there will be "more fallout," Crump added.

"Whether that's going to lead to criminal charges, we have to see, but we do think there was some other officers there that should have been charged, not just these five,” Crump said, noting new video that shows officers walking around Nichols as he lay on the ground.

“How heartbreaking was it when he was handcuffed there on the ground moaning and everybody was walking around so nonchalantly, as if this was just business as usual?" Crump asked. "That’s why we said the SCORPION unit has got to go."

Deactivating the SCORPION squad of the Memphis Police Department -- which all five former police officers indicted in Tyre Nichols' deadly beating had been members of -- doesn’t go far enough in addressing issues within the agency, Memphis City Council member Patrice Robinson told CNN’s Jim Acosta Saturday.

Permanently deactivating the SCORPION unit was "absolutely necessary but essential to give the family peace," city council member JB Smiley Jr. told CNN affiliate WMC, adding it's time for more transparency and training within the Memphis Police Department.

You can read more about SCORPION here.

Lawyers representing Tyre Nichols' family -- civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci -- released the following statement in response to the permanent deactivation of the Memphis Police Department's SCORPION unit, of which all five former police officers indicted in Nichols' deadly beating had been members.

All five former police officers indicted in the deadly beating of Tyre Nichols were members of the now-scrapped SCORPION unit, a spokesperson with the Memphis Police Department confirmed to CNN.

The former officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., have each been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression for their actions during the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols. 

The Memphis Police Department announced earlier Saturday that it will permanently deactivate the SCORPION Unit.

The Memphis mayor’s office declined to comment on the move Saturday afternoon.

Some background: When it was launched in 2021, the SCORPION unit – Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods – was heralded as a direct response to some of the city’s worst crime, with a focus on homicides, robberies, assaults and other felonies.

The unit was used in targeted deployments, which put officers into areas where police were tracking upticks in violent crime.

It faced increased scrutiny after revelations that officers from the unit were involved in Nichols' death. The family's attorney, Antonio Romanucci, had called on Memphis police to permanently disband the unit immediately.

You can read more about SCORPION here.

A makeshift memorial has been set up near the corner street sign where 29-year-old Tyre Nichols was seen being repeatedly beaten by Memphis police officers in surveillance video.

CNN spoke with Darin Abston Jr., who sat on the grass next to the memorial and played “Man in The Mirror” on his guitar. 

Abston said he believes hate and pride fueled the police officer’s actions. 

Abston also said it was “God’s love” that brought him out to the street corner today. 

CNN also spoke with Kiara Hill, another resident of the area, who said the neighborhood was quiet and family-oriented. 

“This SCORPION unit, they had no reason to do what he did to him. Moving forward,” Hill said, “I don’t know what can help this city.”

The Memphis Police Department announced Saturday that it will permanently deactivate the department's SCORPION unit. 

Some of the five former Memphis police officers accused in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols were members of the unit, which was tasked with tackling rising crime in the city.

“While the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonor on the title SCORPION, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department take proactive steps in the healing process of all those impacted. The Memphis Police Department remains committed to serving our community and taking every measure possible to rebuild the trust that has been negatively affected by the death of Mr. Tyre Nichols,” the statement said.

More background: When it was launched in 2021, the SCORPION unit – which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods – was heralded by local leaders as a direct response to some of the city’s worst crime, including homicides.

The unit was used in targeted deployments, which put officers into areas where police were tracking upticks in violent crime.

In the wake of Nichols' death, and the revelation that some of the officers involved were from the unit, CNN reported that SCORPION had been inactivated during a review of all such special units in the force.

Nichols' family attorney Antonio Romanucci had called on Memphis police to permanently disband the unit immediately.

You can read more about the Memphis SCORPION unit here.

CNN's Chandelis Duster contributed reporting to this post.

Former President Donald Trump weighed in on the video released yesterday of Tyre Nichols' beating by police.

When asked if it made him rethink police reform, Trump said it was an issue of judgment and use of force by law enforcement.

“You have to get the right people that know when you have to be tough and when not to be tough,” Trump said. “This was a case of being very, very tough, overly, overly crazy and it was sad to watch. He was begging for his mother. That was a sad thing to watch. And, you know, that's not a question of reform. That's a question of having people that understand what you have to do and understand life.”