MemphisFive fired Memphis police officers have been charged with murder in the death of Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old African-American man hospitalized after a traffic stop earlier this month. The officers were fired last week and charged with using excessive force, with the police chief describing their actions, captured on body camera video, as “appalling, reckless and inhumane.”
Here are the details:
The officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith, were arrested Thursday and charged with second-degree murder, according to jail records. Other charges against the officers, who are all African-American, include aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and official oppression.
Nichols was pulled over by officers on suspicion of reckless driving the night of January 7. Police, in an initial statement, said that “a confrontation occurred” as officers approached his vehicle and that Nichols ran away. Then there was “another standoff” as officers arrested him, the department said, and an ambulance was called after Nichols complained of difficulty breathing.
Nichols “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to preliminary findings of an autopsy commissioned by his family. His family shared a photo taken before he died on January 10 that showed him in a hospital bed, apparently unconscious, his face purple and swollen. Here’s what we know about Nichols.
The five officers were fired last week following an internal investigation by the Memphis Police Department, which found they had violated its policies on excessive use of force, duty to intervene and duty to assist. The Memphis Fire Department has said that two of its employees who responded to the scene were also “relieved of duty” while they conduct their own internal investigation.
The case sparked outrage among activists and Nichols’ family, prompting federal prosecutors in Memphis to open a civil rights investigation. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis condemned the officers’ actions as “a basic lack of humanity,” with officials preparing for the release of the traffic stop video.
