Trial for Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith Jr, and Demetrius Haley begins on charges linked to 29-year-old’s 2023 death
The federal trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in the killing of Tyre Nichols begins Monday.
Ex-officers Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith Jr, and Demetrius Haley will stand trial for federal civil rights and conspiracy charges in connection to Nichols’s death, according to an announcement from the Department of Justice last year.
Continue reading...Desmond Mills Jr is one of five officers charged in the beating death of the Black man who called for his mother as he was attacked
A former Memphis police officer pleaded guilty on Thursday in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, becoming the first of five officers charged to reverse course, with prosecutors recommending up to 15 years in prison.
Desmond Mills Jr entered his plea during a hearing at the Memphis federal courthouse as part of a larger agreement to settle charges in state court as well. It was not immediately clear if any of the other officers would follow suit.
Continue reading...Nichols, who died after being beaten by police in Tennessee, spent much of his youth skateboarding at Sacramento park
California has dedicated a skate park in honor of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who spent much of his youth in the state and was killed last January in what prosecutors said was a fatal beating by police in Tennessee during a traffic stop.
An avid skateboarder, Nichols spent much time as a youth at the park on the outskirts of Sacramento. City officials and others held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated skate park now named for Nichols.
Continue reading...Nichols died after beating by police, who said he was suspected of reckless driving but no evidence of traffic violation has emerged
The family of Tyre Nichols, a Black Tennessee man who died after been beaten by five police officers, has sued the city of Memphis, individual officers and emergency medical personnel involved in his case.
Lawyers for Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court in Memphis.
Continue reading...Officers plead not guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct
Five former Memphis police officers pleaded not guilty on Friday to second-degree murder and other charges in the violent arrest and death of Tyre Nichols.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith made their first court appearances with their lawyers before a judge in Shelby county criminal court. The officers were fired after an internal police investigation into the 7 January arrest of Nichols, who died in a hospital three days later.
Continue reading...Demetrius Haley allegedly took part in a 2015 incident at a county prison that resulted in an entire cellblock writing a letter to the corrections director
Years before Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley pulled Tyre Nichols from his car on 7 January, setting in motion a deadly confrontation, Haley was accused of taking part in the savage beating of an inmate at a county prison.
The 2015 assault of the inmate was so disturbing that 34 others – the entire cellblock – signed a letter to the corrections director.
Continue reading...Civil rights veteran who gave eulogy at Tyre Nichols’ funeral says racism in UK policing could produce similar tragedies
The Rev Al Sharpton has warned that racially charged incidents such as the brutal death of Tyre Nichols in the US will also occur in the UK without far-reaching police reforms.
On the eve of a two-day visit to the UK, the US civil rights veteran said that “systemic racism” and a “culture of policing that produces brutality” must be addressed.
Continue reading...Investigation finds Preston Hemphill violated rules regarding stun gun use, and video shows him saying ‘I hope they stomp his ass’
A sixth Memphis officer was fired on Friday after an internal police investigation showed he violated multiple department policies in the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, including rules surrounding the deployment of a stun gun, officials said.
Preston Hemphill had previously been suspended as he was investigated for his role in the arrest of Nichols, who died three days later. Five Memphis officers have already been fired and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’s death.
Continue reading...The House voted along party lines as it ousted Democratic representative Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee while Democrats defended her.
The vote was divided 218 to 211, CBS reports. One GOP member voted “present.”
“This debate today, it’s about who gets to be an American? What opinions do we get to have, do we have to have to be counted as American?… That is what this debate is about, Madam Speaker. There is this idea that you are suspect if you are an immigrant. Or if you are from a certain part of the world, of a certain skin tone or a Muslim.
Well, I am Muslim. I am an immigrant, and interestingly, from Africa. Is anyone surprised that I’m being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy?” she said.
“A blatant double standard is being applied here. Something just doesn’t add up. And what is the difference between Rep. Omar and these members? Could it be the way that she looks? Could it be her religious practices?” he said.
Continue reading...Hundreds braved the cold in Tennessee to grieve the 29-year-old Black motorist who died after being beaten by five officers
On a frigid Wednesday afternoon, RowVaughn Wells looked into the crowd of hundreds inside the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, and gave her own call to action in the funeral service for her son Tyre Nichols, who was beaten to death by Memphis police earlier this month. Her voice cracked as she joined a fellowship of other Black mothers who lost their children to police violence over the years.
Wells remembered her son as a “beautiful person”, adding that “for this to happen to him is unimaginable”.
Continue reading...The Rev Al Sharpton delivers passionate eulogy at church service to Black man, 29, who died at hands of police in January
Thousands of mourners on Wednesday attended the funeral of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died three days after Memphis police officers beat him following a traffic stop last month.
Nichols’ beating shocked many in the US after being captured on camera, and triggered yet another bout of soul-searching over racism and police brutality. The five officers involved have been charged with murder and other crimes.
Continue reading...Two EMTs and a firefighter also fired as lawmakers call for meeting with president and investigation into Nichols’ death continues
A sixth officer involved in the death of Tyre Nichols has been removed from duty, police said, as an influential group of Black elected officials has called for a meeting with Joe Biden to discuss police reform.
Officer Preston Hemphill, who is white, was relieved of duty and put on what is known as administrative leave, Memphis police major Karen Rudolph said on Monday, according to multiple reports.
Continue reading...Officers were not in danger and brutality had no justification, advocates and experts say
Legal experts and civil rights advocates have said the harrowing video footage that showed a group of Memphis police officers delivering blow after blow to Tyre Nichols underscores the need for broad reforms of policing in the US.
Experts interviewed by the Guardian pointed out that body-worn and surveillance footage was integral in revealing what unfolded – but are not a panacea.
Continue reading...The Scorpion unit has been deactivated after video was released of the brutal beating of the 29-year-old at the hands of officers
The Memphis police chief on Saturday disbanded the unit whose officers beat to death Tyre Nichols as the nation, citing a “cloud of dishonor”, as the city struggled to come to grips with video showing police pummeling the Black motorist.
Police director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said she listened to Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and uninvolved officers in making the decision.
Continue reading...After video of the brutal beating was released, people gathered to decry the violence and abuse of power
Protests took place in multiple US cities late Friday after police released footage of Tyre Nichols’ fatal beating at the hands of Memphis police.
The video released late Friday shows several Memphis officers kicking Nichols repeatedly in the head, punching him in the face, and hitting him with a baton.
Continue reading...The grisly footage, released in four parts, indicates an ambulance did not arrive for more than 20 minutes after the vicious beating
A group of Tennessee police officers punched and kicked Tyre Nichols –delivering at least a half-dozen blows – as he languished on the ground, crying out for his mother, during a 7 January beating that would result in his death, surveillance footage released on Friday night revealed. The deadly attack on Nichols reportedly unfolded about 80 yards from his mother’s home.
The disturbing video, which was released in four parts by the Memphis police department, included both body-camera and street lamp-mounted camera video showing the attack on Nichols, who is Black. While Nichols’s injuries were clearly severe, and his physical condition in obvious decline, the video indicates that an ambulance did not arrive for more than 20 minutes after the vicious beatdown.
Continue reading...Demonstrations in Memphis and other US cities follow release of video and request from Nichols’s mother to ‘protest in peace’
Demonstrations quickly began Friday evening as Memphis police released footage of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols.
The video released Friday showed Memphis officers kicking Nichols repeatedly in the head, punching him in the face, and hitting him with a baton. It also showed officers and medical personnel failing to intervene as Nichols could not sit upright after the assault.
Continue reading...Attorney Ben Crump is holding a press conference alongside Tyre Nichols’s family, where he has compared the swift indictment and arrest of five Black police officers for Nichols’s death to the comparatively slow response to other high-profile killings of Black men.
“This is not the first time that we saw police officers committing crime and engaging in excessive brutal force against Black people in America who were unarmed, but yet we have never seen swift justice like this,” Crump said.
Continue reading...CJ Davis says department will release ‘alarming’ video of officers, now charged with murder, beating black man who died days later
The chief of the Memphis police warned on Friday morning that the video of officers beating Tyre Nichols is “perhaps worse” than the infamous footage of Rodney King being attacked by police in Los Angeles more than 30 years ago.
The police department intends to release the video to the public on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Nichols, 29, died three days after a traffic stop in Memphis turned violent. Plus, the rise of queerbaiting accusations
Good morning.
Five former Memphis police officers have been charged with the murder of Tyre Nichols, a Black motorist in Memphis, Tennessee, who died three days after a 7 January traffic stop spiraled into violence.
How did Nichols die? In a three-minute attack, Mulroy said. An independent autopsy indicated “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating”, an attorney representing his family reportedly said. “He was a human piñata for those police officers,” the family attorney, Antonio Romanucci, told reporters. “Not only was it violent, it was savage.”
When will the video footage be released? Memphis authorities said they would release video of the incident. Family members and their attorneys have already seen it. During the press conference yesterday, officials indicated that the footage would be released after 6pm local time today.
What happened? Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers arrived at daybreak yesterday at several entrances to the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold in the north of the Palestinian territory, said Sakir Khader, a Palestinian-Dutch film-maker at the scene. Armed Palestinians shot at an Israeli armoured vehicle disguised as a commercial van, at which point the IDF returned fire and a fierce four-hour gun battle ensued, causing widespread damage, he said.
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