MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Five former Memphis police officers were charged Tuesday with federal civil rights violations in the beating death of Tire Nichols as they continue to fight second-degree murder charges in state court stemming from the killing.
Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith were charged in US District Court in Memphis. The four-count indictment charges them with deprivation of rights under color of law through excessive force and failure to intervene, and through willful indifference; conspiracy to witness harassment; and obstruction of justice through witness tampering.
The charges come nine months after the brutal beating during a Jan. 7 traffic stop near the Nichols’ Memphis home, in which they punched, kicked and dragged the 29-year-old man with a baton while yelling for his mother. Nichols died in hospital three days later. The five former officers, all black like Nichols, have pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and other offenses alleged in the case.
“We all heard Mr. Nichols crying for his mother and saying ‘I’m just trying to get home,'” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a video statement after the arraignment. “Nichols tires should still be alive today.”
U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz in West Tennessee said at an afternoon news briefing that the state and federal cases are on separate tracks. Ritz declined to predict how quickly they would proceed.
Tyre Nichols’ stepfather Rodney Wells, second left, and Nichols’ mother RowVaughn Wells, third left, close their eyes in prayer before a press conference on federal charges filed against five former officers in Nichols’ death on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. AP
Kristen Clarke, who heads the US Justice Department’s civil rights division, said at the hearing that the five former officers used excessive force, failed to advise medical personnel of Nichols’ injuries and conspired to cover up their wrongdoing.
“In our country, no one is above the law,” he said, adding that he met early Tuesday with Nichols’ mother and stepfather.
Caught on police video, Nichols’ beating was one of a string of violent encounters between police and black people that sparked protests and renewed debate about police brutality and police reform in the US
US Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz, left, looks on as Assistant US Attorney Kristen Clarke.AP
Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said she was surprised that the federal charges “came so quickly.” The investigation that led to the indictment was announced in the weeks after Jan. 7.
She said her son was a “free spirit.”
“He should be here today,” he said during a press conference at a Memphis church. “Because of the five officers, he didn’t.”
Lawyers for some of the former officers said the allegations were not surprising, and some added that their clients would defend themselves against the charges.
The indictment says the officers failed to tell dispatchers, their supervisors and emergency medical technicians they knew Nichols had been beaten repeatedly, trying to cover up the use of force and protect themselves from criminal liability.
Officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, and bottom row from left, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith.AP
Additionally, the indictment alleges instances where officers used their body cameras to limit the evidence that could be captured at the scene: Martin moved his body camera where it would not show video of the beating; Haley and Smith activated them only after the attack; and Haley and Mills took off when emergency medical personnel were on the scene.
At the scene of the arrest, officers then discussed hitting Nichols with a “straight haymaker,” even as Nichols’ condition deteriorated and he became unresponsive, the indictment said. Nichols can be seen in the police video on the ground, slumped over the police car.
The indictment accuses the officers of gathering after the beating and saying, among other things, that “I thought when he wasn’t going down, we were going to kill this guy.” The indictment did not say which officer made the statement.
Kevin Ritz, US Attorney for the federal district of West Tennessee, middle, speaks to reporters about the charges filed against five former Memphis Police Department officers in connection with the violent beating and death of Tire Nichols.AP
The indictment also alleges officers falsely stated Nichols actively resisted arrest at the scene and that he grabbed Smith’s protective vest and pulled on the officer’s duty belt.
A hearing was set for Friday morning in a federal lawsuit filed by Nichols’ mother against five former officers, the city of Memphis and its police department. The former officer is then scheduled to appear Friday afternoon in state court.
The Justice Department announced an investigation in July into how Memphis Police Department officers used force and made arrests, one of several “pattern and practice” investigations it has conducted in other US cities.
In March, the Justice Department said it was conducting a separate review of the Memphis Police Department’s use of force, de-escalation strategies and specialized units.
The officers were part of a crime-suppression team that officials disbanded after Nichols’ death. However, members of the “Scorpion” unit were transferred to other teams.
Elsewhere, a federal civil rights case was filed last year against four Louisville, Kentucky police officers over a drug raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman whose fatal shooting helped fuel the racial justice protests that swept the country in 2020.
In Minneapolis, a former police officer was convicted of violating the civil rights of George Floyd, whose death sparked the protests. Former officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years after pinning Floyd to the pavement for more than nine minutes as the Black man pleaded, “I can’t breathe.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
