5 Memphis cops fired after suspect killed

[BigK]

23 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

Frankly, I feel Tyre was done a disservice. All these people using his funeral to push their own political agendas rather than focusing on honoring the life of this young man. 

They never let a crisis go to waste.

[Links2k]

59 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

I actually watched the funeral. It was carried live on 5 of the local TV stations. It was quite a show. A production worthy of a major Hollywood studio. Much more of a Civil Rights/Political rally than a funeral. Lots of speeches about how bad the police are and how bad they treat black people. Lots of pushing for the George Floyd Policing Act that's tied up in congress. Poor Tyre seemed to get lost in the shuffle. 

As for the V.P.... Al Sharpton was recognizing all the dignitaries in the crowd. When he got to Harris there was a big applause. Al then made a show of inviting the V.P up to the podium for a few impromptu  remarks. When Harris walked up on stage, she pulled out a pre-written speech and read it. Tell me that wasn't planned in advance. 

Frankly, I feel Tyre was done a disservice. All these people using his funeral to push their own political agendas rather than focusing on honoring the life of this young man. 

It was everything you said, and more.  The memorial for Tyre was held a few weeks ago.  It was on the local news and much smaller. Yesterday was a show to drum up support for the Floyd bill and to keep these issues in the national spotlight. 
 

If people weren’t making noise, who would have paid attention to this case?  I’m no fan of Al Sharpton, but he’s an activist. Everything he’s doing is his job. I despise Steve Bannon, but getting people angry and pissing other people off is his job. Neither would be successful if they weren’t effective. 

[Links2k]

[Grayfox54]

The two Memphis EMTs that were fired have had their licenses suspended by the State Board.

[Capbyrd]

 

 

https://rickthorne.bigcartel.com/product/tony-hawk-x-rick-thorne-2-0-autographed-doubles-card

 

A new skatepark in Memphis, funded by Tony Hawk, in memory of Tyre. 

[MacGyver]

As reported in several outlets - it looks like one of the officers seen snapping pictures did in fact share it with others via text including a “female acquaintance.”

From The Commercial Appeal:

Quote

On [Haley's] personal cell phone, [Haley] took two photographs while standing in front of the obviously injured subject after he was handcuffed," the document read. "[Haley] admitted [he] shared the photo in a text message with five people; one civilian employee, two MPD officers, and one female acquaintance.

Of course her phone will be subject to discovery.  If those texts shows prior history and that he was targeting Nichols to get revenge on her that will be devastating to the defense.

If I was the prosecutor, I’d absolutely argue taking his charges to first degree murder.  

[deerslayer]

So this could turn out to be something different than regular ol' police brutality.  

[Grayfox54]

Heard a quick blurb on the news the other night that 7 more officers have been relieved  of duty. Apparently they made the scene after the beating but didn't do anything to help Nichols. This was the bunch shown standing around chit-chatting in the videos. 

There have been rumors that this was a targeted attack from the very beginning.  If true, I'd guess that would come out in court.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Grayfox54

[Links2k]

SCORPION Unit supervisor had prior reprimands, illegally searched man's car

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2023/02/24/tyre-nichols-death-scorpion-unit-supervisor-prior-reprimands-illegal-search/69932478007/

Edited February 24, 2023 by Links2k

[deerslayer]

Special traffic unit has been reactivated sooner than expected, but not soon enough.

https://wreg.com/news/local/mpd-reactivates-special-traffic-enforcement-unit/

[Capbyrd]

3 hours ago, deerslayer said:

Special traffic unit has been reactivated sooner than expected, but not soon enough.

https://wreg.com/news/local/mpd-reactivates-special-traffic-enforcement-unit/

STEU is not Scorpion Unit.  All Scorpion officers were reassigned to OCU.  STEU is the cars that you used to see with the flip up yellow arrow on the roof.  They are supposed to deal with incidents on the expressway and assist with traffic control during critical accident investigations.  

[deerslayer]

38 minutes ago, Capbyrd said:

STEU is not Scorpion Unit.  All Scorpion officers were reassigned to OCU.  STEU is the cars that you used to see with the flip up yellow arrow on the roof.  They are supposed to deal with incidents on the expressway and assist with traffic control during critical accident investigations.  

Right, but was STEU also recently deactivated?  The article made it sound like STEU would be doing a lot more than random traffic control.  

Meanwhile, county commissioner Britney Thornton has apparently gotten over being triggered by whiteness and is now focused on passing an ordinance that will not allow arrests after a traffic stop for unrelated violations and also ban any law enforcement agency in Shelby County from having any specialized unit or participating in a multi-agency task force.  Yeah that's a step in the right direction 

[Capbyrd]

1 hour ago, deerslayer said:

Right, but was STEU also recently deactivated?  The article made it sound like STEU would be doing a lot more than random traffic control.  

They will be doing traffic stops on the interstate but unlike scorpion, I do not believe they roll as a unit.  And no, they weren’t recently deactivated.  It’s been several years at least.  

[deerslayer]

10 hours ago, Capbyrd said:

They will be doing traffic stops on the interstate but unlike scorpion, I do not believe they roll as a unit.  And no, they weren’t recently deactivated.  It’s been several years at least.  

That explains why I've never heard of STEU, lol.  I've worked with OCU and Cargo Theft and would hate to see them banned because of idiotic knee-jerk reactive politics.  

[deerslayer]

Yesterday, the Memphis city council approved an ordinance that requires police to use only marked vehicles for traffic stops.  Another ordinance that bans police from making pretextual traffic stops will be discussed at their next meeting.  This was supposedly in response to the Tyre Nichols incident, but I don't see how any of this makes us safer.  Defunders are running the show and anarchy is the apparent goal.  

[Erik88]

1 hour ago, deerslayer said:

Yesterday, the Memphis city council approved an ordinance that requires police to use only marked vehicles for traffic stops.  Another ordinance that bans police from making pretextual traffic stops will be discussed at their next meeting.  This was supposedly in response to the Tyre Nichols incident, but I don't see how any of this makes us safer.  Defunders are running the show and anarchy is the apparent goal.  

I think murder is a better description. Why do we need unmarked cars for traffic stops? What sort of change would you approve of after the Tyre Nichols murder? 

[Chucktshoes]

1 hour ago, deerslayer said:

Yesterday, the Memphis city council approved an ordinance that requires police to use only marked vehicles for traffic stops.  Another ordinance that bans police from making pretextual traffic stops will be discussed at their next meeting.  This was supposedly in response to the Tyre Nichols incident, but I don't see how any of this makes us safer.  Defunders are running the show and anarchy is the apparent goal.  

On these subjects, I’m going to have to disagree with you here. The use of unmarked vehicles for traffic enforcement has long been a concern for public safety. Whether it was imposters pulling over folks to rob and or rape folks, or other factors, it has long been a controversial, and in my opinion improper practice.
 

The use of pretextual traffic stops as fishing expeditions because of suspicions of other types of wrongdoing is on the line of running afoul of civil liberty violations. I don’t know about you, but dancing on the line of violating civil liberties of the citizenry is not something I believe a properly functioning, law-enforcement entity should be seeking. Any good officer, or agency should be able to recognize where the line is of rights violations is, be able to point at it and make the statement “it’s waaaaay over there.“

 

[deerslayer]

36 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

I think murder is a better description. Why do we need unmarked cars for traffic stops? What sort of change would you approve of after the Tyre Nichols murder? 

What do unmarked cars have to do with Nichols' murder?  If the cars were marked, would he still be alive?  Would he have remained at the traffic stop instead of running from the people who were killing him?  This is no different than somebody robbing a liquor store with a j-frame and politicians saying, "See, we have to ban AR-15s!"

 

36 minutes ago, Chucktshoes said:

On these subjects, I’m going to have to disagree with you here. The use of unmarked vehicles for traffic enforcement has long been a concern for public safety. Whether it was imposters pulling over folks to rob and or rape folks, or other factors, it has long been a controversial, and in my opinion improper practice.
 

The use of pretextual traffic stops as fishing expeditions because of suspicions of other types of wrongdoing is on the line of running afoul of civil liberty violations. I don’t know about you, but dancing on the line of violating civil liberties of the citizenry is not something I believe a properly functioning, law-enforcement entity should be seeking. Any good officer, or agency should be able to recognize where the line is of rights violations is, be able to point at it and make the statement “it’s waaaaay over there.“

 

 

Unmarked cars making traffic stops to "fish" does happen, I'll acknowledge that.  It leads to a lot of bad guys getting caught.  Imposters are a concern, although I haven't heard about any.  Let's not pretend that either of these issues are the actual reasons that the city council wants to neuter police.  Pretextual stops are widely used to bust open ongoing investigations when timing is everything.  That is REALVILLE and SCOTUS has ruled that pretextual traffic stops are kosher.  To take away this Constitutional tool will make life easier for bad guys, and that's the last thing Memphis and Shelby County need right now.  

[Erik88]

14 minutes ago, deerslayer said:

What do unmarked cars have to do with Nichols' murder?  If the cars were marked, would he still be alive?  Would he have remained at the traffic stop instead of running from the people who were killing him?  This is no different than somebody robbing a liquor store with a j-frame and politicians saying, "See, we have to ban AR-15s!"

I could be wrong but I thought the Scorpion division drove unmarked Chargers? 

My point was that you've been critical of every change they have made so far so I'm curious what you think they SHOULD do. They murdered him. If they didn't make any changes they would be getting criticized for that too. Unmarked police cars should not be used for traffic violations. I shouldn't have to wonder if the person behind me is a legitimate officer or some idiot impersonating an officer. 

 

[deerslayer]

28 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

I could be wrong but I thought the Scorpion division drove unmarked Chargers? 

So none of this would have happened if Scorpion had driven white cars with blue lights on top and "Memphis Police Department" on their doors?

28 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

 My point was that you've been critical of every change they have made so far 

Every change they've made so far has nothing to do with Nichols.

28 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

I'm curious what you think they SHOULD do. 

I'll reserve judgment on what should change until after we get the rest of the story about why he was even stopped in the first place.  

Edited March 8, 2023 by deerslayer

[Erik88]

5 minutes ago, deerslayer said:

So none of this would have happened if Scorpion had driven white cars with blue lights on top and "Memphis Police Department" on their doors?

I don't think anyone is saying that. 

 

5 minutes ago, deerslayer said:

Every change they've made so far has nothing to do with Nichols.

And that's fine. Most people seem to think MPD's issues are wide spread and started long before they murdered Tyre Nichols.  Sometimes an event like this is the catalyst needed for change. The fact that they are taking this seriously and show willingness to make changes seems like a good thing to me. How often have we seen departments come to the conclusion they did nothing wrong? 

 

[Chucktshoes]

1 hour ago, deerslayer said:

Unmarked cars making traffic stops to "fish" does happen, I'll acknowledge that.  It leads to a lot of bad guys getting caught.  Imposters are a concern, although I haven't heard about any.  Let's not pretend that either of these issues are the actual reasons that the city council wants to neuter police.  Pretextual stops are widely used to bust open ongoing investigations when timing is everything.  That is REALVILLE and SCOTUS has ruled that pretextual traffic stops are kosher.  To take away this Constitutional tool will make life easier for bad guys, and that's the last thing Memphis and Shelby County need right now.  

You’re kidding about the police imposters, right? You’re not actually serious that you’ve not heard any stories of police imposters, are you? The stories are legion and not just in the apocryphal “my cousin’s sister’s uncle’s grandmother had that happen” sense. There are literally page after page of search results of folks being arrested for it nationwide and I remember news stories about it going back to my childhood. It’s the entire reason that there are statutes regarding the kinds and colors of lights on vehicles. Unmarked cars should never be used for traffic stops. 
 

As far as the legality/constitutionality of pre-textual stops, I don’t dispute that. I still think it’s a just course of action for the people’s representatives to ban their use like how I don’t support the use of no-knock warrants. Even if something is “technically” ok, doesn’t make it just or right. 
 

I also don’t deny that it makes the job of police harder. Then again, I’ve always maintained that it’s supposed to be hard. If it were easy, it’s be an entirely different kind of terrible place to live. 

[Links2k]

4 hours ago, deerslayer said:

  Defunders are running the show and anarchy is the apparent goal.  

No amount of funding will stop what’s occurring in a corrupt Memphis PD or a lawless city of Memphis unless the DA puts and keeps people including violent juvenile offenders in jail. No one in their right mind wants anarchy. That’s just frustrated talk. 
 

1 hour ago, Erik88 said:

I could be wrong but I thought the Scorpion division drove unmarked Chargers? 

My point was that you've been critical of every change they have made so far so I'm curious what you think they SHOULD do. They murdered him. If they didn't make any changes they would be getting criticized for that too. Unmarked police cars should not be used for traffic violations. I shouldn't have to wonder if the person behind me is a legitimate officer or some idiot impersonating an officer. 

 

You make very valid points about unmarked vehicles. It is widely known in Memphis regardless if it’s reported on the news that bad guys use their vehicles to impersonate undercover cops to rob, rape and carjack people. People will tell you that when they see blue lights behind them, they hope it’s a marked car.  
 

Lastly, if critical timing in an investigation as stated by another member boils down to the use of an unmarked vehicle, that’s not a solid investigation with redundancy. Maybe that’s why many Scorpion cases were thrown out regardless of their high stat padding arrest rate. 
 

 

[Links2k]

The city has concluded their investigation, and the remaining videos will be released soon. 
 

***Check that. As of 15 minutes ago Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr. has placed a hold on the release of additional video until the defendants and their attorneys have a chance to review the additional footage. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Links2k

[deerslayer]

2 hours ago, Erik88 said:

And that's fine. Most people seem to think MPD's issues are wide spread and started long before they murdered Tyre Nichols.  Sometimes an event like this is the catalyst needed for change. The fact that they are taking this seriously and show willingness to make changes seems like a good thing to me. How often have we seen departments come to the conclusion they did nothing wrong? 

 

Except MPD is not showing willingness to makes these changes - these were proposals that the city council wants to shove down MPD's throat (and all other departments in Shelby County with the county commission's assistance).  The MPD director objected to four of the six ordinances.  Some of the council members are using a tragedy to push their defund/woke goals.  

You asked me what changes I would make.  If I were king, I would be a LOT choosier about whom MPD hires and promotes.  A couple times I've dealt with the police at work and a co-worker has made the comment "they hired HIM?!"  Stop lowering standards.  Ahh, but it's hard to find people, right?  The same city council that claims it is all about our safety fought tooth and nail for years to bar any MPD officers from living outside Shelby County.  They even succeeded in getting a residency referendum REMOVED from the ballot in an election.  The reason they didn't want the citizens to have a say?  One council member said they just don't want that "Mississippi mentality."  What exactly does that mean?  I think we all know.  The state forced Memphis to change, but the intent is still alive and well.  

1 hour ago, Chucktshoes said:

You’re kidding about the police imposters, right? 

Nope - I don't remember the last time I heard of this ACTUALLY HAPPENING around here.  I have read where people didn't want to pull over because they feared this, only to discover that the unmarked car was driven by a real cop.  Whether it happens or not, it's highly disingenuous of city council members to cite this as a reason for their ordinance.  

59 minutes ago, Links2k said:

No amount of funding will stop what’s occurring in a corrupt Memphis PD or a lawless city of Memphis unless the DA puts and keeps people including violent juvenile offenders in jail.

Mulroy has not indicated that keeping people in jail is a priority.  If fact, he seems more worried about unemployed criminals having a low enough bond so they can get out the same day they are arrested for some felony.    

Edited March 8, 2023 by deerslayer