Court proceedings in the case against the five Memphis police officers responsible in the 2023 death of Tyre Nichols have been underway in federal court over the last week. A former officer involved in the incident has testified against the three remaining former officers currently on federal trial.
Back on Jan. 7, 2023, Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Sacramento native who moved to Memphis in 2020, was forcibly removed from his car by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop. After being threatened and having pepper spray deployed on him, Nichols ran from officers in the direction of his mother’s house.
After a chase on foot, officers caught up to Nichols nearly half a mile away from the original traffic stop. Tyre Nichols was then pepper sprayed a second time and beaten relentlessly by officers, leaving him to fend for himself until medical personnel arrived. It was not until 16 minutes after EMTs arrived that Nichols was attended to.
Tyre Nichols later succumbed to blunt force trauma related injuries three days after the incident on Jan. 10, 2023.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith are the five officers accused in the beating. They were dismissed from the Memphis Police Department on January 8 and were arrested on January 24.
All five officers are facing charges on the state and federal level including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, and federal charges of deprivation of civil rights.
Mills Jr. and Martin III have both pleaded guilty to some of the charges levied against them, with Mills Jr. pleading guilty to all charges including murder in exchange for a plea deal. Martin III also took a plea deal for the federal charges but will still stand trial in state court.
Bean, Haley, and Smith all pleaded not guilty to the charges and are currently standing trial in federal court. Emmitt Martin III testified against the three former officers on trial.
“He wasn’t a threat,” said Martin referring to Tyre Nichols, confirming that he believed the force used against him was excessive. Martin then went on to say that the officers had a duty to stop any force used by other officers that seemed unnecessary.
Retired MPD Lieutenant Dewayne Smith also testified in court. Lieutenant Smith was the former supervisor of the SCORPION unit (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods), the same unit the five responding officers were a part of. The unit was disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Smith said there was “no need” for the force used against Tyre Nichols by the five officers. “It was surprising, they didn’t need to hit him anymore.”
Smith also later admitted that he did not know about the camera footage of the incident until he saw it released on the news.
“I turned it off. I was starting to learn what actually happened. I didn’t want to see it,” said Smith.
Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, and Tadarrius Bean all will remain on federal trial until a verdict is reached.
