A man identified as a black Army veteran is suing the five former Memphis, Tennessee, police officers charged with murdering Tyre Nichols.

Lawyers for Monterrious Harris, 22, filed a lawsuit in Tennessee federal court seeking $5 million in damages over the alleged violent encounter that took place three days before Nichols was beaten.

Harris claims he was in a car waiting on his cousin at an apartment complex in Memphis on January 4 when masked and armed members of the now-disbanded Scorpion Unit “suddenly swarmed” him without immediately identifying themselves and demanded he get out or “be shot.”

Thinking he was being robbed, Harris backed his car up until it hit some sort of object, and he then stepped out of the vehicle with his hands up, the lawsuit says. That’s when Harris alleges officers punched, stomped, and dragged him across the concrete until witnesses came outside in response to his shouts for help.

After receiving treatment at a hospital, Harris was held in jail for several days until his family could post bond, according to Fox News.

Harris claims in his lawsuit that he is facing “false” charges, including evading arrest. He was also slapped with various drug and weapons violations. Harris’ cousin left a licensed and registered gun in the car without Harris knowing, the lawsuit says.

“Mr. Harris had great difficulty walking because his left leg was gashed from the assault,” the lawsuit says. “But for witnesses coming outside to observe after hearing Mr. Harris’ loud screams, Mr. Harris would likely have suffered the same fate as Mr. Nichols.”

Defendants in the lawsuit include Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. — who are the same five black officers charged with second-degree murder in the fatal beating of Nichols, a black 29-year-old FedEx worker. These officers, who were fired from the Memphis police force, do not yet have attorneys listed, according to Insider.

The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office previously said it was looking into all individuals involved in the events leading up to, during, and after the beating of Nichols. Memphis police announced late last month that it permanently disbanded the specialized street crime Scorpion unit.

Harris’ mother called Spence Partners Law while Harris was in jail, and the firm’s lawyers were the ones who found out the officers mentioned in the police report for Harris were the same ones charged in Nichols’ death, according to an ABC 24 Memphis report.

“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,” said Jarrett Spence of the law firm.

The City of Memphis and four John Does were also listed as defendants in Harris’ lawsuit.

St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida, has named its law school after Ben Crump, a black lawyer involved in some of the most controversial cases involving police in recent history.

University officials joined Crump to christen St. Thomas’ Benjamin L. Crump College of Law on Wednesday in a ceremony at the law school. Crump, a well-known civil rights and personal injury attorney, has participated in numerous high-profile cases, including representing the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.

“We have come such a long way in the journey to equality, but we are not there yet,” Crump said, according to the Miami Herald. “The future changemakers and civil justice leaders that will matriculate from St. Thomas will soon be passed the torch from today’s civil rights icons and I have every confidence that they will meet the moment.”

Movie star Will Smith, a friend of Crump’s, was also in attendance.

“There are very few people in the world with a heart like this,” Smith said. “So, it is with my deepest honor and pleasure to be here to support, show love and give congratulations on this historic honor.”

The naming comes as a consequence of an agreement between Crump and the university. St. Thomas agreed to name its law school after Crump after a fundraising goal of $10 million was reached for the Benjamin L. Crump Center for Social Justice, which is housed in the law school.

“The Center will create innovative curriculum, develop implicit bias training and policies, and curate programmatic instruction modules and symposia that advance its goals,” the center’s website says.

The Crump law school is the second law school in the United States named after an African American and the first law school named after a living black attorney. The first law school named after an African America is that of Texas Southern University. The Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern is named after the first black Supreme Court justice.

Crump has gained national profile representing clients in high-profile civil rights and injury cases. Crump’s most recent high-profile case is representing the family of Tyre Nichols, a black man allegedly beaten to death by a group of black police officers in Memphis, Tennessee.

Crump has insisted that Nichols’ death is related to police prejudice against black Americans despite the officers charged in relation to the incident being black themselves.

“We have an opportunity here, America, to really speak to this institutionalized police culture and show that it is not just about white officers or Black officers or Hispanic officers,” Crump said last month after murder charges were filed in the case. “It’s about police officers having this biased belief that you can get away with doing certain things to Black citizens and brown citizens in America that you cannot get away with white citizens.”