Five additional Memphis Police officers violated department policy — but were not fired — following the arrest of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who died three days after a severe beating at the hands of Memphis officers last year, according to hundreds of pages of documents recently released by the city.
Nichols died on Jan. 10, 2023, after he was beaten, pepper sprayed and shocked by Memphis Police Officers Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills — all of whom were Black — on Jan. 7. Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx worker, allegedly was pulled over for reckless driving.
Included in the latest documents from the city of Memphis, which last month released 21 additional hours of footage from the night of the beating, are personnel files for terminated Memphis police and fire department employees, a witness statement, emails exchanged between police and city officials and internal police investigation files, The Associated Press reported.
The release of the additional documents served as a “commitment to transparency” from the city’s administration, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said in a statement.
“We understand the importance of releasing these documents to the public,” Young said.
A coalition of media organizations pressed the city to release more information, citing the First Amendment, which led to the release of the additional hours of video footage and audio from the city on Jan. 30, according to the AP.
The new documents show five additional officers received internal affairs reprimands that included body camera violations and not completing or inaccurately completing documentation. It also shows that the officers who were arrested — Haley, Bean, Martin, Mills, and Justin Smith — were tested for drugs, and their boots were collected for evidence.
The sixth officer fired in the Nichols case but who did not face criminal charges, Preston Hemphill, also had to be urine tested…
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