A Justice Department investigation launched after the beating death of Tyre Nichols in 2023 found that "Memphis police officers regularly violate the rights of the people they are sworn to serve."
About 21 hours of newly released video and audio are revealing more about what first responders in Memphis, Tenn., did and said the night Nichols was pulled over and mortally injured.
In a report to be made public Wednesday, federal officials call for mayors and police chiefs to assess whether such specialized units are even necessary to solve community problems.
A Memphis City Council committee voted to replace Chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis a year after the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by five officers generated intense criticism of her department.
After the beating death of Tyre Nichols by five Memphis police officers in January and other abuses that have come to light, the police department is under mounting pressure to change its culture.
The five former police officers face charges of excessive force, deliberate indifference and witness tampering for the January death of the 29-year-old Nichols.
The Justice Department said its investigation will focus on the Memphis Police Department's use of force, its stops and arrests and whether the department engages in discriminatory policing.
The 29-year-old's official cause of death was ruled a homicide, according to the report released Thursday by the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center.
The lawsuit compared Nichols' fatal police beating to the 1955 killing of Emmett Till, saying the 29-year-old suffered a beating "endured at hands of a modern-day lynch mob."
Decertification hearings for others investigated in his death are pending. Decertification prevents officers from going to work in the same jurisdiction. They can still get police jobs out of state.
Lt. DeWayne Smith served as a supervisor on the now-deactivated SCORPION unit — the specialized police unit responsible for conducting the traffic stop that ultimately lead to Nichols' death.
The 20-some hours of video and audio footage were set to be released Wednesday alongside other documents from the city's investigation into the officers involved in the 29-year-old Black man's death.
The Shelby County District Attorney's Office says it will review all "closed and pending" cases of the five former Memphis police officers charged in Nichols' death. Four had prior violations at work.
Five officers have been indicted over the beating death of Nichols. Four of them had been disciplined earlier by the Memphis police department for car crashes, failure to report use of force and more.
