Following Tyre Nichols’ fatal beating earlier this month, a sixth Memphis police officer has been placed on administrative leave.
Preston Hemphill’s attorney acknowledged that he was the white officer whose body camera footage Memphis PD published on Friday.
The cop is seen in the video pulling over the 29-year-old FedEx driver Nichols and attempting to arrest him before tasering him as he flees from police. Hemphill starts after the vehicle, but eventually gives up and goes back to the location of the traffic stop.
But according to a statement from Hemphill’s attorney, Lee Gerald, his client was never there at the second scene where police beat Nichols unconscious.
“Officer Hemphill is relieved of duty. This is an ongoing investigation. Once additional information is available, we will update our social media platforms. Hemphill was hired in 2018,” a department spokesperson said.
Hemphill’s bodycam shows him aiding an unnamed officer who had pepper spray in his eyes and attempting for minutes to catch his breath after a brief chase after Nichols.
A other video from the fatal traffic encounter on January 7 shows Memphis police forcibly removing Nichols, a black man, from his car before pursuing him when he tried to escape.
He was apprehended by five officers minutes later, who viciously beat him with a Taser and a telescopic baton while he cried for his mother, whose house was just around 60 yards away.
All of the black police officers—Tadarrius Bean, 24, Demetrius Haley, 30, Emmit Martin III, 30, Desmond Mills Jr., 32, and Justin Smith, 28—were fired on January 20 as a result of an internal investigation that revealed they had overstepped their authority and neglected to intervene and provide assistance.
Days later, they were all arrested and lodged in Shelby County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder and other felonies. Each cop was released after posting bail of between $250,000 and $350,000.
Regarding Hemphill’s involvement in the traffic stop, the police have declined to comment. He is not currently employed or facing any criminal charges. Just after other officers who had stopped Nichols on suspicion of reckless driving had arrived, he did as well.
Protests against police brutality broke out all around the US after the footage of the assault was made public. Over the weekend, there were mainly peaceful protests in New York, Atlanta, Memphis, Oakland, and Baltimore.
The bodycam video from the night of the police fight has made many people feel sick. Two officers are holding Nichols down at one point while a third repeatedly kicks him in the face as he lies on the ground defenceless.
A fourth officer beats him with a baton as a third encourages him by saying, “Hit him!” According to the footage, Nichols received at least six blows to the head.
Nichols is then placed in handcuffs and leaning against a passing police vehicle.
On the footage, officers can be seen moving around, but none seem to pay attention to the gravely injured Nichols’ cries for assistance.
To treat Nichols, paramedics must wait roughly 15 minutes after arriving. At least 20 minutes later, an ambulance shows up, and Nichols is taken in serious condition to St. Francis Hospital while complaining of shortness of breath.
Cerelyn Davis, the chief of the Memphis Police Department, denounced the incident as “a failure of basic humanity toward another person.” This act was “heinous, reckless, and barbaric,” and it was “about the same, if not worse,” than the infamous beating of Rodney King in 1991, when Los Angeles police beat him mercilessly while stopping him for a traffic violation.
He “suffered considerable bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to a preliminary autopsy report, even though the official cause of death has not yet been disclosed.
The elite Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods (SCORPION) squad of the Memphis police force, of which the officers responsible for the beating of Nichols were members, has been disbanded due to the “heinous actions of a few,” the police department claimed.
“In the process of listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders and the uninvolved officers who have done quality work in their assignments, it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the SCORPION unit,” the department wrote on Twitter.
“The officers currently assigned to the unit agree unreservedly with this next step. While the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonor on the title, SCORPION, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department, take proactive steps in the healing process for all impacted.”
