Documents from Tennessee’s law enforcement regulatory and training agency are shining more light on the concerning conduct of the former Memphis Police officers involved in the Jan. 7 traffic stop that body cam video shows ended in the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols.
A report filed with the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Commission that sought the officers’ decertification includes a statement from Officer Justin Smith, who insists he used departmental training during Nichols’ arrest. Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, died at a hospital three days following his encounter with the members of the police department’s now-disbanded Scorpion crime-fighting unit.
“It is my contention that I personally utilized the training and defensive tactics provided to me as a Memphis police officer in attempting to handcuff [Nichols],” Smith wrote in the statement to an MPD hearing officer.
Smith was the only one of his colleagues to offer a statement during the administrative hearing. His statement doesn’t include details of the officers beating, kicking and stomping on Nichols, as body camera video shows.
Smith, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Tadarrius Bean, all black, have been charged with second-degree homicide and several other felonies in connection with Nichols’ death.
As The Tennessee Star reported this week, Haley used his personal phone to take photos of a badly beaten Nichols and sent them to five individuals, including a “female acquaintance.” Investigators have confirmed they are looking into rumors that Nichols was targeted by the officers because he was involved with Haley’s ex-wife.
Martin and Haley, according to the internal police documents obtained in a public request of the P.O.S.T. records, were accused of filing false statements. Their accounts of the traffic stop and subsequent apprehension of Tyre, who fled from the officers, don’t match with video from the scene, according to the records.
The officers claimed Nichols grabbed Martin’s weapon before Martin and Haley “placed him on the ground.” That account doesn’t square with the video. Reports that Nichols was driving erratically also don’t appear to match video footage.
Internal documents also describe former Officer Preston Hemphill, who assisted the other officers at the initial traffic stop, as “unprofessional and unbecoming of a sworn public servant.” Hemphill, who is white, used a Taser on Nichols and is heard in video saying, “I hope they stomp his ass” as the other officers chased a fleeing Nichols. He was not involved in the beating of Nichols.
Hemphill also was fired and MPD requested the state agency decertify him. He was found to have lied in his statements, internal investigation documents show. He claimed that Nichols, who was unarmed and did not initiate verbal or physical force, attempted to grab another officer’s firearm. The internal records note that video does not corroborate Hemphill’s claims. There also is no evidence that Nichols was fighting officers as Hemphill stated.
“Subject was removed from the vehicle by you and your partners. Audio from the body worn camera captured you using the assaultive statement ‘get on the f*****g ground,” the records state. “Subject was not using profanity or showed signs of violence towards you. The subject ran away from officers on foot down Ross. You can be heard on body camera telling your partner, “I hope they stomp his ass.”
“Your behavior was unprofessional and unbecoming of a sworn public servant …You deployed your taser for three seconds while the subject was on his feet and in running motion from you. The subject was not armed and did not impose an immediate threat to you or others. The subject was also in the middle of the street while traffic was still present when you deployed the taser. You put everyone involved at risk of serious bodily injuries due to oncoming traffic,” the statement continues.
The Memphis Police Department has not returned The Star’s multiple requests for comment.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
