The Scorpion unit has been deactivated after video was released of the brutal beating of the 29-year-old at the hands of officers

• This article contains a video depicting violence

The Memphis police chief on Saturday disbanded the unit whose officers beat to death Tyre Nichols as the nation, citing a “cloud of dishonor”, as the city struggled to come to grips with video showing police pummeling the Black motorist.

Police director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said she listened to Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and uninvolved officers in making the decision.

The grisly footage, released in four parts, indicates an ambulance did not arrive for more than 20 minutes after the vicious beating

• This article contains video and descriptions of physical violence

A group of Tennessee police officers punched and kicked Tyre Nichols –delivering at least a half-dozen blows – as he languished on the ground, crying out for his mother, during a 7 January beating that would result in his death, surveillance footage released on Friday night revealed. The deadly attack on Nichols reportedly unfolded about 80 yards from his mother’s home.

The disturbing video, which was released in four parts by the Memphis police department, included both body-camera and street lamp-mounted camera video showing the attack on Nichols, who is Black. While Nichols’s injuries were clearly severe, and his physical condition in obvious decline, the video indicates that an ambulance did not arrive for more than 20 minutes after the vicious beatdown.