- A Memphis man alleges in a federal lawsuit that the cops who beat Tyre Nichols attacked him, too.
- Three days before Nichols' beating, he was also beaten by the SCORPION unit officers, the suit says.
A Memphis veteran has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the five officers charged with Tyre Nichols' murder attacked him three days earlier.
A lawyer for Monterrious Harris says in the suit that the SCORPION unit officers had surrounded his car while masked — without identifying themselves — and beat him, including punching and stomping him, and dragged him across concrete.
"In the evening hours of January 4, 2023, Mr. Harris, while visiting his cousin at an apartment complex in Memphis, was suddenly swarmed by a large group of assailants wearing black ski-masks, dressed in black clothing, brandishing guns, other weapons, hurling expletives and making threats to end his life if he did not exit his car," attorney Robert Spence Jr. wrote. "Unknown to Mr. Harris at the time – the black masked assailants were members of the Scorpion Unit."
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, names as defendants Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. — the five officers charged with murder for Nichols' death — the City of Memphis, and four John Does. Harris is asking for $5 million in damages.
Harris, 22, says he was visiting his cousin, who got into the car with his licensed and registered gun and, without Harris' knowledge, tucked it between his seat and the middle console, Spence wrote.
After talking for a few minutes, Harris' cousin went back inside his Memphis apartment to grab a jacket so the two could leave for a trip downtown. Harris was backing into a parking spot to wait for his cousin when five or six "masked men" approached and surrounded his car, demanding that he get out or "be shot," according to the lawsuit.
"Since the men were wearing black ski-masks that covered their faces and Memphis Police Department paraphernalia was not immediately apparent or visible, Mr. Harris reasonably concluded that he was being robbed," Spence wrote, adding that none of the men asked for his license or said why they were there.
Harris backed away from the men and bumped into an "obstruction" before getting out of his car, Spence wrote.
"After exiting the vehicle Mr. Harris realized for the first time that the men who had surrounded his vehicle were either security guards or some other authority, as he observed that they were wearing tactical vests," he wrote. "Upon exiting his vehicle, Mr. Harris put both hands into the air."
Spence said at that point the men slammed Harris' face into the concrete and beat him for about two minutes.
When other residents came outside to witness the beating, the men handcuffed and arrested Harris, who Spence says is an Army veteran.
With a bleeding head and one eye swollen shut, Harris was taken to jail, the suit says, where he was booked on various charges.
A police incident report obtained by Insider shows that Harris was charged with drug, drug equipment, and weapons violations. The officers accused Harris of attempting to conceal a baggy of suspected marijuana from them during the arrest.
They also say that when they searched his body they found a holster and magazine with live rounds, in addition to the gun in the car.
Harris was held for several days before his family could raise bail money, Spence wrote.
The Shelby County District Attorney's office did not return Insider's request for a status in the case.
"Mr. Harris had great difficulty walking because his left leg was gashed from the assault," the suit alleges. "But for witnesses coming outside to observe after hearing Mr. Harris' loud screams, Mr. Harris would likely have suffered the same fate as Mr. Nichols."
SCORPION unit
In the lawsuit, Spence details other use-of-force cases out of the Memphis police department and references a decades-old "choir practice" routine in which officers would allegedly would drink together at the precinct after their shifts, occasionally responding to calls.
The suit also summarizes other use of force incidents specifically carried out by the SCORPION unit, which was founded in 2021 with the goal of "violent crime reduction."
The unit is among specialized "street crime" units in Memphis and around the country that are usually made up of plain clothes officers who target lower-income neighborhoods.
These kind of units have been connected to some of the most high-profile and flagrant cases of police brutality of the last 30 years, an Insider investigation found.
Nichols' death and the release of the video of his brutal beating prompted national protests against police brutality and led to the disbandment of the SCORPION unit.
Within 20 days, the five officers accused of beating Nichols' were charged with murder. Two other officers have been on paid administrative leave, and seven remain under investigation by the department on internal charges.
A spokesperson for the city of Memphis didn't immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit. The police department declined to comment on pending litigation.
The officers do not yet have attorneys listed as representing them in the case.
"The current ignoble chapter of the Memphis Police Department ending with the violent and unconstitutional beatings of Mr. Harris, other Memphians and the death of Mr. Nichols, began decades ago," Spence wrote. "The Memphis Police Department unconstitutional policies, practices, and customs leading to the formation of the Scorpion Unit, which operated as a gang of vigilantes, was consistent with abuses that citizens have suffered for many years."