Officers charged with the death of Tyre Nichols have now been accused of assaulting another black man days before. Monterrious Harris, 22, filed a $5 million lawsuit against the officers and the City of Memphis, claiming he was attacked on January 4, just three days before Nichols, 29, was beaten during a traffic stop.
“The officer, he was like, ‘Stop reaching for the gun,'” Harris said. “And I know that I didn’t have a gun.
“I didn’t know what else to do besides just let them do what they were doing to me.”
And according to local reports, he said the officers who were wearing ski masks, “came out of nowhere” as he initially thought he was being robbed before he spotted the officer’s vest
One officer banged on the window of his Chrysler 300 and the rest surrounded him.
Another threatened to shoot him if he didn’t get out of the car.
Speaking to ABC24, Harris said: “I was scared like I didn’t know what to expect.
“After they already had me detained and stuff, they kept saying how they wanted to air my car out.
“One officer was laughing at the other officer like, ‘Oh you’ve got your red beam on’. He was like ‘yes, I was ready to shoot him’.”
The 22-year-old Army Veteran was booked on a charge of gun possession as a convicted felon.
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Harris spent several days in jail, but was also beaten and had his head slammed into the concrete.
The police report accused him of evading arrest, possession of a controlled substance, and of being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun – which Harris says belonged to his cousin.
After the alleged encounter, a marked police car took Harris to 201 Poplar, where a nurse requested he go to the hospital.
Lawyers on behalf of Harris at Spence Partners Law said: “We filed a lawsuit because we believe we can prove that there’s a policy and custom in MPD in which they violate the rights of young Black men like Monterrious.”
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The five officers, all former Members of Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit, listed in Harris’ suit were Tadarrious Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and Desmond Mills Jr.
The five cops were all fired due to their involvement in Nichols’ death, and now face second-degree murder charges.
The former officers are due in court on criminal charges, for the first time, next week.
