MEMPHIS, Tenn. — About 21 hours of newly released video and audio reveal more about what first responders did and said, including the five fired police officers charged in the violent beating death of Tire Nichols, the night Nichols was detained and critically wounded. death.
The dozens of recordings were made public Tuesday by Memphis city officials based on a state judge’s order, which came the same day former officer Desmond Mills Jr. pleaded guilty in November to federal charges in the case. which sparked outrage around the world and intensified calls for police reform. City officials also plan to release additional written documents in two weeks.
Mills also intends to plead guilty in state court and could testify against his four former colleagues (Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith) who remain charged with civil rights violations in federal court and with murder. second degree and other crimes in state court. They have pleaded not guilty.
The recordings released Tuesday add hours of context to police video released weeks after the traffic stop, which showed the five officers punching Nichols as he screamed for his mother, steps from his home. The new footage shows what officers and others did and said before, during and after the beating.
Many of his comments suggest that officers and paramedics seemed obsessed with the idea that he was high. Doctors administered naloxone to reverse a possible opioid overdose as Nichols hunched over, unresponsive, after officers backed him up against a car. An emergency medical technician even stated: “He is not injured. He’s just high.”
Nichols’ autopsy later detected only low levels of alcohol and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his system.
As for what prompted the traffic stop, Bean’s body camera recorded another officer saying that Nichols “drove into oncoming traffic” and “swerved like he was going to hit my car” after they turned on sirens and ordered him to stop. But the same officer also said Nichols “stopped at the red light and flashed his turn signal.”
The officer said they went out to chase him and apparently that’s when Nichols fled on foot toward his home, where the beating would occur, less than a block from his front door.
Other officers were recorded saying that Nichols had attempted to grab an officer’s gun, which none of the videos clearly show, and that he resisted arrest, even though Nichols appeared to be complying with their commands.
Later, some officers seemed perplexed to see that there were no drugs in the car Nichols was driving. One suggested he might have thrown something while he ran.
Mills’ body camera also recorded how he and his superior spoke with Nichols’ mother and stepfather. When the stepfather answered the door and asked why Nichols was being held, Lt. Dewayne Smith didn’t seem to know until Mills said “DUI.” Then the lieutenant repeated “DUI.”
The police chief later said the department could not substantiate any reason for the traffic stop.
“I’m trying to find out if he knows he takes any kind of drugs or narcotics or anything like that,” the lieutenant said. When Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, responded “no,” she said, “because she seemed to be drinking something other than alcohol.”
Wells then said that Nichols smokes some marijuana and Lt. Smith responded, “He smokes more than just marijuana.”
Wells then repeatedly tried to find out where his son was, but the lieutenant was evasive, saying he was “with the paramedics” and “they took him a little ways from here” and “he’s in the neighborhood.” He finally told her: “He will go to jail after receiving medical treatment.”
As they walked away, Mills told the lieutenant that he believed the parents “know more than they’re saying” and seemed suspicious because they didn’t open the screen door. Then he said: “I just hope… you just need to make it, that’s all. You need to achieve it. It doesn’t look very good.
Dewayne Smith, who faces no criminal charges, retired before police fired him.
About an hour after officers removed Nichols from his car, a woman claiming to be Nichols’ mother appeared, along with another man, at the intersection of the initial traffic stop and began asking Officer Preston Hemphill what was wrong. happened.
When Hemphill said Nichols fought with officers, the mother seemed incredulous.
“My son? Not a shot,” he said, and then added: “That doesn’t sound like my son. I’m sorry, sir.”
Hemphill fired his stun gun during the traffic stop, but did not follow Nichols to where other officers hit him. Hemphill was fired but does not face criminal charges.
Attorneys for Nichols’ family said they are reviewing the additional video, but hope it “affirms what we have said since day one: that there was absolutely no justification for the officers’ brutal and inhumane actions.”
“We will continue our unwavering gaze on this tragedy and will firmly support Tire’s family in their continued grief and fight for justice,” attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said in a news release.
The Associated Press requested comment from attorneys for the former officers facing charges. Attorneys for Mills and Justin Smith declined to comment.
Nichols died in a hospital on January 10, 2023, three days after being kicked, punched and hit with a police baton.
Nichols was black. All five officers are also black. The four still charged face a federal trial in May and a state court trial in August.
Following the January 2023 release of body camera and police pole camera footage, the city had planned to release about 20 more hours of video, audio and documents, including officers’ personnel files, but the The judge granted the defense’s motion for a delay “until such time as the state and defendants have reviewed this information.”
A coalition of media organizations, including The Associated Press, cited the First Amendment to push for their release. Lawyers for the former officers argued that their right to a fair trial should be recognized and protected.
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into “patterns and practices” of how Memphis Police Department officers use force and make arrests, and whether the department in the majority-Black city engages in discriminatory policing. racially.
In March, the Justice Department announced a separate review into use of force, de-escalation strategies and specialized units at the Memphis Police Department. Additionally, Nichols’ mother is suing the city and its police chief over the death of her son.
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Loller and Mattise reported from Nashville. Associated Press journalists Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; Rebecca Reynolds and Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky; Matthew Barakat in Falls Church, Virginia; Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland; Lea Skene in Baltimore; Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia; and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville contributed.