Death of Tyre Nichols: Sixth Memphis cop relieved of duty

MEPHIS, Texas. A sixth Memphis police officer has been disciplined for his part in the brutal beating and arrest of Tyre Nichols, a department spokeswoman said Monday.

Officer Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty shortly after the January 7 arrest of Nichols, who died three days later in hospital, Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said. She did not reveal Hemphill’s role in the arrest.

Rudolf said the information about the disciplinary action taken against Hemphill was not immediately made public because Hemphill was not fired, and the department usually releases information about officers who are relieved of duty after an investigation is over.

The Nichols family and others who closely followed the events surrounding his brutal arrest and murder in Memphis were waiting for additional disciplinary action against officers who were on the scene but were not fired or charged.

A long-awaited video footage released Friday showed five Memphis Police Department officers using tasers, batons, fists and kicks beating Nichols during a January 7 overnight arrest after he was pulled over on suspicion of reckless driving. Nichols, a 29-year-old father, heard him call for his mother and saw him struggle after being injured while sitting helplessly on the sidewalk. Three days later he died in the hospital.

Five officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder and other alleged crimes related to the arrest, which shocked many with its brutality and revived calls for police reform across the country.

Memphis police and the Shelby County District Attorney said the investigation into the actions of law enforcement officers who arrived at the place of detention is ongoing. On Monday, a Memphis police spokeswoman said the information would be made public when it became available.

In addition to the five officers who chatted and loitered for several minutes while Nichols sat on the ground in apparent pain, two Shelby County sheriff’s deputies were relieved of duty without pay while their behavior was investigated. Two members of the Memphis Fire Department were also suspended in connection with Nichols’ arrest.

The video showed other officers who also arrived at the scene. Memphis Police Director Serelyn “CJ” Davis did not say if the officer who was involved in the initial traffic stop and was heard saying, “I hope they rub his ass” was punished as Nichols ran.

Calls for more officers to be fired or charged were loud and persistent from the Nichols family, their attorneys and community activists, who peacefully protested in Memphis after the video was released. The video was reminiscent of the arrest of George Floyd in 2020 and the failure of officers to intervene.

On Saturday, Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, told The Associated Press that the family was going to “keep getting justice and arrest a few more officers.”

“Questions were raised before the video was released, I raised those questions,” Wells said. “I just felt like there were more than five officers there. So, five were charged with murder, because they were the main participants, but there were five or six other officers who did not provide any help. So they are just as guilty as the officers who delivered the blows.”

Memphis City Council member Martavius ​​Jones said he watched the video with colleagues on Friday. On Monday, he acknowledged that the Memphis police’s no-help and de-escalation policy appeared to have been violated.

“When everyone watched the video, we saw a few officers just standing around when Mr. Nichols is in distress, it just paints a whole different picture,” Jones said.

Jones said he thought more officers should be disciplined.

“At this point, what will be good for this community is to see how quickly the chief of police will deal with those other officers now that everyone has seen the tape and knows that it was not only five policemen who were at the scene all the time. time,” Jones said.

The five fired officers were part of the so-called “Scorpion” unit, which pursued criminals who committed violence in certain areas. Davis, the police chief, said on Saturday that the unit had been disbanded.

A memorial service for Nichols is scheduled for Wednesday at a Memphis church.

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