Mr. Nichols’s family and activists in the city had demanded that the Police Department dismantle the unit, which deployed officers to patrol higher-crime areas of the city and had drawn scorn in the communities it served even before Mr. Nichols’s death this month. “The officers currently assigned to the unit agree unreservedly with this next step,” the department said in the statement. An independent autopsy commissioned by his family found that Mr. Nichols “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to preliminary findings. Five officers were charged on Thursday in connection with Mr. Nichols’s death: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. One of the family’s principal demands was to shut down the Scorpion unit.

Source: New York Times January 29, 2023 16:34 UTC