Teen comes forward claiming SCORPION Unit officers attacked him

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - In the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death from a brutal beating by Memphis police officers, a 19-year-old is now coming forward claiming four of the five SCORPION Unit officers involved in Nichols’ incident attacked him.

Maurice Chalmers-Stokes, who did not want to appear on camera, is breaking his silence about his encounter with former MPD officers: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Preston Hemphill and three other officers a part of the SCORPION Unit team.

“I was just leaving the barbershop, end up going to my grandmother’s house,” said Chalmer-Stokes. “She lives right down the street on University Street and Chelsea. I had took a shower and put on my clothes and left back out the door.”

Stokes said that’s when three unmarked police cars approached him just after 5:30 p.m., some officers were wearing ski masks.

He claims former officer Demetrius Haley and another officer approached him aggressively and then asked to search his bookbag.

“They didn’t come to me like a regular police officer. This was my first time interacting with any officer, so when they said that it had me scared instantly cause I was like what did I do,” said Chalmer-Stokes.

Stokes said he took off running. When officers caught up to him, he claimed officer Demetrius Haley grabbed him and pushed him back down―cutting his head. At one point, he said he was also hit by the MPD car.

“We need the story to be told, this is just totally inconsistent with what our country stands for,” said Attorney Andre Wharton.

Attorney Andre Wharton representing his client Maurice Chalmer-Stokes said he hopes just like in Tyre Nichols’ case, transparency as to what took place.

“Individuals should be able to walk freely without the Constitution speaking of unreasonable searches and seizures. This was totally unreasonable,” said Wharton.

Chalmer-Stokes said in the affidavit he refused medical treatment which was also not true.

Next week, Attorney Wharton and Chalmer-Stokes plan to talk to city officials about this case to get body cam footage.

According to the affidavit and also confirmed by his attorney, Maurice Chalmers-Stokes was charged with theft of property after a stolen gun was found in his backpack following that stop.

Click here to sign up for our newsletter!

Click here to report a spelling or grammar error. Please include the headline.

Copyright 2023 WMC. All rights reserved.