By: Samantha Michaels | Mother Jones
Monterrious Harris, 22, was sitting in his car outside his cousin’s apartment in Memphis on January 4 when eight men in black hooded sweatshirts and ski masks allegedly approached the vehicle and ordered him out. “I will shoot you!” one of the men said, according to Harris. “I will shoot you!”
Harris put his car in reverse and it collided with an obstruction, according to his account. As he got out of the vehicle, he saw that the men were wearing tactical vests, so he put his hands in the air. The men then allegedly grabbed, punched, and kicked him for about two minutes, pushing his face into a concrete walkway and leaving him with a bloodied head, a swollen eye, and a gashed leg.
According to a lawsuit filed by Harris in a federal court, these men were some of the same Memphis police officers who would, three days later, pull 29-year-old Tyre Nichols out of a car and beat him brutally, resulting in his death. The killing of Nichols prompted protests around the country and a swift response from authorities, who have since fired the officers, charged several of them with murder, and disbanded their unit.
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