Grayfox54

Yes indeed rumors do abound. I heard one that says at least two of those cops are members of the Vice Lords and it was the gang that ordered the beating. Don't believe anything until it can be proven in court.

Y'all did a lot better than me. After just a few minutes my BS meter pegged out and I turned that sh!t off.

It was Hemphill's body cam you were watching in the video of the initial stop. He was the guy with the taser. He was not involved in the later confrontation and beating.

Very likely what most of the lawyers in this case are doing. They'll get millions of dollars worth of publicity out of it.

MPD has been a mess for at least 30 years. Back in the 1990s I was a Boy Scout Leader. We had two very active Troop Dads, both of whom were MPD officers. Both had about 10 years on the job. Both were looking for a way out of Patrol Division. One was a Lieutenant who got himself a position supervising the Reserve Unit. The other got himself transferred to K-9s. They both gave the same reason. They said the the new officers Memphis was hiring at that time were just plain stupid. They were a danger to themselves and others. These Dads just didn't want to be out on the streets with them. Remember, this was 30 years ago. The situation has not improved since.

Yeah, that was on the news last night. Bonner has always struck me as a level headed kinda guy. But every cop is under the microscope here right now. And he has said he plans to run for Mayor. Politics I guess.

There was one report that said one of the former officers said he never requested the Scorpion Unit. He was just assigned to it out of the blue. I kinda get the impression that admin was looking to fill this unit with a certain type. For the record, I am and always have been a firm supporter of Police. When I worked for Bartlett, I dealt with our cops on pretty much a daily basis. The vast majority of them are good people. We would get an occasional bad apple, but they never lasted very long. But then, I dealt with the person not the cop. OTOH: being right next door to Memphis, I have had to deal with MPD from time to time. Frankly, they don't impress me one bit. Most of them come off as dumb as a box of rocks. Its been well known around here for quite some time that Memphis has trouble recruiting new officers. Therefore they have lowered their standards quite a bit. It shows. Another big issue with MPD is that good candidates will get hired on because its fairly easy. They get trained, work a couple of years for experience and then take off for greener pastures. They just can't keep the good ones.

I seems that around 9:00 pm the protesters moved off the bridge. They marched a little around downtown and made their way back to the park where they originally gathered. Now they've gone home. However, they did say that they will be back tomorrow and the next day as long as they are needed. One interesting note: the video showed many of them were carrying professionally printed signs saying things like "Jail Killer Cops" and something about Police terrorist. At the bottom in smaller print it read "Party of Socialism and Liberation". I have no idea what that's all about or what it might mean. But it don't sound good. Out of town instigators maybe?

Actually the female version of a Man Cave is called a "She Shed". Its usually a small outbuilding in the back yard where she can do her hobbies or just get a little alone time.

Watching the local news. Downtown Memphis is practically a ghost town. No protesters, but not the usual Friday night crowd either. Many places are closed. Just a few folks here and there. I guess everybody is playing it safe. One large crowd of protesters has walked up on the I-55 Mississippi River bridge and has stopped traffic both ways. They aren't being unruly or violent. In fact they're pretty quite. But they are making their point. So far, no serious problems at all.

I watched all 4 videos released on the City website. The people I saw didn't look like Police officers. They may have been wearing the uniform and driving the cars, but these were not Police officers. What I saw was a group of disorganized, incompetent thugs trying unsuccessfully to restrain one skinny dude. Failing that, they beat the poor guy into submission. There was absolutely nothing professional about them. Case in point. One guy has Nichols in a wrist lock while another is screaming "Give me your hands!" There was little to no teamwork there. The whole thing was wrong right from the start. They never gave Nichols a chance to exit the car. Instead, they opened the door and drug him out. It just got worse from there. IDK, maybe I'm just too jaded. What I saw was a clear case of Police brutality, but I didn't find it "shocking" or "horrifying" as it was claimed to be. Just me I guess.

On the local news a little while ago they were showing where some businesses in downtown Memphis are boarding up their windows. That doesn't bode well.

I searched the web and all the info I could find on it says Davis created Scorpion in 2021 several months after she was hired. I didn't find any reference to it before then.

What I'm seeing from Davis and other officials is a huge case of CYA. These are her officers from a special unit she created and she threw 'em under the bus without a moment's hesitation. I'm curious as to what the rank and file think about this?

That's the basic problem with this case. Lots of rumors, but very little facts.

Tough call. Ordinarily I'd say never refinish a classic old gun. Refinishing hurts value more than having a poor finish. Collectors are strange about that. However, since you plan of keeping the gun and passing it on, I don't see why not. Be aware that a proper restoration will likely cost more than the gun is worth. Don't half azz it with some local refinish guy. Do it right with a restoration specialist. It won't be cheap and they will likely have the gun for months, perhaps a year or more. But the final results will be worth it.

I, too, would very much like to know the reason for the initial stop. Exactly what did Nichols do? One thing that bothers me is that the Police Chief, the Mayor, the DA, head of TBI and just about everybody else has already declared these officers guilty. Not one single official involved in the investigation has offered any doubt at all. While they are very likely guilty as sin, there's no way these guys can get a fair trial. A good defense attorney will play that for all they can. Anything can happen. None of it good.

The CBS evening news had this as their lead story tonight and spent a good 5 minutes on it. That was followed by a story of how other big city PDs are preparing for unrest when the video is released. BTW: the reason the video won't be released until sometime after 6:00 pm on Friday is so the people have time to get off work, make it home, businesses have time to close and traffic can clear before the video hits. It seems that the whole country is expecting riots over this. I really, really hope they're wrong.

No experience with that gun. But I do own a couple of .32s. Nice little cartridge. Very easy to shoot and quite accurate. I think its highly under rated as a defensive round. If you do your part, it will get the job done.

The video is due to be released tomorrow after 6:00 pm. Channel 3 hinted that the video may be redacted. I doubt that anybody will see it all until the trials start. I do hope that people will remain calm. Bail for all 5 officers has been set at between $250,000 and $350,000. If the defense attorneys have any sense at all, the first thing they'll probably do is file for a change of venue. My guess is the trials will be held in Nashville. This now a major national news story. All of MSM is covering it. Even Biden released a statement on it. Memphis is gonna take a beating.

Just heard on the evening news that Al Sharpton is coming to town to deal with this. Oh ain't that just swell.

The 147 gr FMJ is the standard military loading. Most rifles do well with this load and some rifles can be very accurate with it. There's still some Mil-surp stuff out there. I've had good results with South African, Radway Green and Australian ammo. Avoid that Indian crap like the plague. The majority of target loads use a 168 gr bullet with the Sierra BTHP being the accuracy standard. Federal specifically loads their Match ammo with the Sierra bullet rather than one of their own. I don't suggest using anything lighter and certainly nothing heavier in the M1A. Heavier bullets can lead to bent operating rods. Simply put, you need to try different loads to see what your rifle likes.

In my research it seems that one of Scorpion Unit's goals is to cut down on the wave of drag racing, donuts and assorted other car tricks that have been plaguing Memphis streets for the last few years. These street racers have gone so far as to block major streets and Interstates to put on their little shows. The goal is not only to stop this, but to impound the cars used. Its stated that Nichols was originally pulled over for reckless driving. Could it be that he was involved in these sort of activities? Street racers get real touchy when they might lose their car. Maybe that's why he ran? What exactly did he do to be pulled over? I wonder if we'll ever know? Still no excuse for being beaten to death.

I did a bit of research. This Scorpion Unit seems to be based on aggressive policing. Go out and find the bad guys before/while they commit the crime. Seems it was also Davis' idea and was started a few months after she took over in 2021. Not sure how I feel about aggressive policing. The 5 guys fired got a bit over aggressive and now a man is dead. Oh yeah, stick a fork in her, Davis is done. Maybe the next chief will be hired for good qualifications and not political correctness.