Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old African-American who died on January 10, three days after receiving a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, was photographed by one of them, who admitted to having sent the image to five people.
The revelation occurred after learning of the file opened by the Memphis police, related to the dismissal of five officers accused of murder for the death of Nichols, among whose documents appeared the statement of Demetrius Haley, one of the five officers involved admitted to sending a photo of Nichols to five people.
The photo in question shows him leaning against a police car, bloodied, dazed and handcuffed after being beaten. According to him NOW, Agent Haley took an image of the detainee and sent it to at least five people, including two fellow officers, a civilian employee of the department, and an acquaintance. A sixth person would also have received the photo, according to the case file.
The document was sent to the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission for the regulatory agency to decertify the officers involved in the beating.
Since the images recorded by a police body camera and a surveillance camera on a pole became public, the Memphis Police Department fired the five officers, also black, who savagely beat the young man. Based on the facts, they are charged with second-degree murder for Nichols' death.
Cerelyn Davis, Chief of the Memphis Police, also requested that the certification granted by the Commission be withdrawn, which would make the fired officers ineligible to work as police officers in the state.
Agent Haley's lawyer, Michael Stengel, did not comment after it was learned that his client failed to comply with Memphis police protocols, which prohibit officers from using personal cell phones while performing patrol duties, driving a police vehicle, responding to calls for service or conducting traffic stops.
Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx worker and photographer, was stopped in that city for a traffic violation just minutes from his home. Police stated that "a confrontation occurred," that he ran, and then there was another confrontation when officers captured him.
Although officers alleged he was driving recklessly, there is no evidence of this. What was recorded in video It was the moment of the beating, after stopping him and approaching the car with at least one officer pointing his gun.
In these images, Haley can be seen taking photos minutes after the beating, while Nichols lay leaning against the police car. Haley shines a flashlight on Nichols, and appears to take a photo of him, which he repeats after looking at his phone for a few seconds.
Haley was not present during much of the brutal beating with batons and kicks, as she was driving the patrol car and arrived at the end of the events, just when the other agents were handcuffing Nichols, who was moaning in pain and had been pinned face down to the ground. .
Still, he ran and kicked him hard in the head or upper body. Nichols was left bloodied on the concrete and fell repeatedly after officers supported him next to a police car. He died three days later.
In addition to Demetrius Haley, the Memphis Police Department expelled Tadarius Bean, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith. The five officers were arrested and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, ethical misconduct and oppression. Four of them were released after paying bail.
The disbanded unit known as Scorpion, to which these officers had been assigned, was created to police neighborhoods with high crime rates. The department also suspended two additional officers, one of whom had fired the Taser at Nichols.
Two emergency technicians from the Fire Department who were the first medical workers to arrive on the scene and took 19 minutes before providing medical care to Nichols were also fired. A fire lieutenant was also fired for not having gotten out of the vehicle to help the victim of the beating.
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