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Five Memphis police officers have been federally indicted for their involvement in the brutal murder of Tire Nichols.
The Memphian daily first reported that all of the men allegedly involved in the death of Nichols, 29, had been federally charged.
An indictment filed Tuesday in federal court charged the five men, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith, with excessive force, failure to intervene, willful indifference and tampering of witnesses.
The five men, who all worked for Memphis police, were seen on video beating and questioning Nichols in January.
Nichols later died from his brain injuries caused by blunt force trauma to the head, with his death formally ruled a homicide.
Nichols, an unarmed man, died after being kicked and beaten by Memphis police officers in January
From top row left, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, from bottom row left, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith. All were charged in Nichols’ death
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee will hold a press conference in Memphis later today.
The five officers involved – all from the Scorpion Unit – claim they were stopping Nichols on suspicion of reckless driving.
Nichols was taken to the hospital in an ambulance that left the scene of the beating 27 minutes after emergency medical technicians arrived, authorities said.
Police said Nichols was suspected of reckless driving, but no verified evidence of a traffic violation emerged in public records or video footage.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said she saw no evidence to justify the stop or the officers’ response.
She disbanded the Scorpion Unit, which she created in November 2021, after Nichols’ death.
All five men also face charges in Shelby County Criminal Court for second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and official oppression.
Shocking video of Nichols beating shows officers savagely beating FedEx employee for three minutes while shouting profanities at him in an assault that the Nichols family’s legal team has compared to the infamous beating by police from Los Angeles motorist Rodney King in 1991.
According to the medical examiner’s report, Nichols had traces of marijuana in his system.
In the video, officers can be heard saying Nichols was “high as a kite.”
The shocking video saw Nichols call out to his mother before his limp body was pressed against a police car and officers exchanged punches.
Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said at the time the video was released that the family would “continue to seek justice,” noting that several other police officers had failed to help, making them “just as guilty as the police officers who launched the blows.
The arrest was made by the so-called Scorpion unit, which has three teams of about 30 street officers who target violent offenders in areas plagued by high crime. The unit has since been disbanded.
An indictment filed Tuesday in federal court accuses the five men of excessive force, failure to intervene, willful indifference and witness tampering.
Police said Nichols was suspected of reckless driving, but no verified evidence of a traffic violation emerged in public records or video footage.
An officer in the video accused Nichols of swerving as if he intended to hit an officer’s car.
The officer said that when Nichols stopped at a red light, the officers jumped out of the car.
“We tried to get him arrested,” laments the officer. “He didn’t stop.”
Officers also initially said Nichols was arrested for reckless driving, but there was no evidence to support those claims.
After the first officer roughly removes Nichols from a car, Nichols can be heard saying, “I didn’t do anything,” as a group of officers begin pushing him to the ground.
Second-degree murder is punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.