5 ex-Memphis police officers charged in Tyre Nichols death indicted on federal charges

MEMPHIS, Tenn. − Five former Memphis police officers who were charged with murder and other crimes related to the death of Tyre Nichols now face federal civil rights charges.

A four-count indictment from a federal grand jury alleges the officers "willfully deprived Nichols of his constitutional rights," officials announced Tuesday. The former officers — Emmitt Martin, Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Justin Smith and Demetrius Haley — face one count of excessive force and failure to intervene under the color of law, one count of deliberate indifference under the color of law, one count of conspiracy to witness tamper and obstruction of justice through witness tampering in federal court.

"We all know that police officers have challenging jobs and that most officers carry out their jobs with honesty, dedication and integrity," Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said Tuesday. "But when some officers violate the Constitution, when they use excessive force, when they ignore serious injuries inflicted on people they arrest, their actions erode the public's trust."

U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee said Tuesday the former officers are expected to make their initial appearance in court "in the coming days." Blake Ballin, an attorney representing Mills on the state criminal charges, told the Associated Press the federal indictment “is not unexpected” and said Mills will defend himself against the federal charges.

What happened to Tyre Nichols?

Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving in the evening hours of Jan. 7, though police later said there was no evidence to support he was driving recklessly. In body camera footage, officers could be seen yelling conflicting commands at him and pulling him from his car and to the ground.

Officers then began to hold him down and pepper spray him, with another officer — Preston Hemphill — holding a taser to Nichols's body.

At some point, Nichols jumped up and ran away. Less than 100 yards from his mother's home, police caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. Over the following minutes, officers would hold Nichols while punching, kicking, pepper spraying and hitting him with a baton.

Nichols was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where he died three days later due to blunt-force trauma to his head.

“Tyre Nichols should be alive today,” Clarke said in a statement. “It is tragic to see a life cut short at 29, with so many milestones unmet, so many words unsaid, so much potential unfulfilled."

What does the indictment say?

Much of the information within the indictment was previously known to the public, but aspects of the witness tampering and conspiracy charges include new details about the aftermath of the beating.

The indictment alleges the former officers "unlawfully assaulted" Nichols and failed to intervene to prevent that assault, Ritz said. He said the indictment alleges the defendants knew Nichols needed medical aid, but did not provide it and did not explain the circumstances to the police dispatcher or emergency medical personnel.

According to the indictment, the former officers also allegedly "intentionally conspired" to withhold information and make false statements in an attempt to cover up their unreasonable use of force, including by "using their body-worn cameras in such a way as to limit the capture of evidence at the arrest scene," Ritz said. He said the indictment also claims the defendants gave "false and misleading information" to a police supervisor and detective who were writing reports about the arrest.

“While MFD emergency medical personnel were on the scene, defendants Haley and Mills removed their body-worn cameras and set them aside before defendants gathered to discuss amongst themselves the force used on Nichols and made statements like: ‘Everybody rocking his ass’; ‘Pop, pop, please fall’; and, ‘I thought when he wasn’t going to fall, we about to kill this man,'" the indictment said.

The Indictment went on to allege that the officers told supervisors and the officer who wrote the original incident report that Nichols was resisting and reaching for their gun belts. It added that Mills and Smith "falsely [told] MPD Detective 1 that Nichols was so strong that he lifted two officers into the air."

Two of the charges — deprivation of Nichols' right be to free from unnecessary force and the neglect of rendering medical aid — carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. The two counts related to obstruction of justice and witness tampering each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years. There is no parole in the federal prison system.

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Officers are also facing state charges

Seven officers were fired in the aftermath — Hemphill, Dewayne Smith, Haley, Bean, Martin, Smith and Mills. The latter five face criminal charges, including second-degree murder.

That case is currently making its way through Shelby County Criminal Court and is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman. Attorneys and the charged officers are set to appear in court Friday afternoon to debate whether each officer is going to be tried separately. The DA's office will argue to try the cases as one, citing equal criminal culpability for all the officers present at the beating and some defense attorneys are arguing that each officer's involvement is slightly different.

Memphis Police Department faces lawsuit, DOJ investigation

At the same time that case is being litigated, a civil lawsuit from the Nichols family's attorneys, including renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump, has had a flurry of motions being filed. The lawsuit asks for $550 million in damages, with Crump saying at an April press conference the goal is to "make it financially unsustainable for these police oppression units to unjustly kill Black people in the future."

The civil suit cites many levels of negligence and claims that the Memphis Police Department, and City of Memphis, should have known that a unit like the one the seven fired officers were part of — the since disbanded SCORPION Unit — would result in constitutional violations.

The City of Memphis, along with the police department and Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis, have since filed motions to have the case dismissed, saying that the department does not have unconstitutional policies. The city, the police department, Davis and the seven fired officers are all part of the civil lawsuit. Also named in the lawsuit are three former Memphis Fire Department personnel who responded to the scene to provide medical attention to Nichols.

In late July this year, the DOJ announced a pattern or practice investigation had been opened up into the department. The investigation will look to see if the department engages in a pattern of excessive force, race-based policing and violations of the constitution's right against illegal searches.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

Contributing: The Associated Press