Current:Home > Markets5 former officers charged in death of Tyre Nichols are now also facing federal charges -Clarity Finance Guides
5 former officers charged in death of Tyre Nichols are now also facing federal charges
View
Date:2025-04-15 07:24:08
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Five former Memphis police officers were charged Tuesday with federal civil rights violations in the beating death of Tyre Nichols as they continue to fight second-degree murder charges in state courts arising from the killing.
Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith were indicted in U.S. District Court in Memphis. The four-count indictment charges each of them with deprivation of rights under the color of law through excessive force and failure to intervene, and through deliberate indifference; conspiracy to witness tampering, and obstruction of justice through witness tampering.
The new charges come nine months after the violent beating of Nichols by police officers during a Jan. 7 traffic stop near his home in Memphis. Nichols died at a hospital three days later, and the five officers have pleaded not guilty to state charges of second-degree murder and other alleged offenses in connection with the case. The five officers charged in the case are Black, like Nichols.
Blake Ballin, an attorney representing Mills on the state criminal charges, said the federal indictment “is not unexpected” and Mills will defend himself against the federal charges as he is in state court.
William Massey, the attorney for Martin, said the federal charges were expected. “They are not a surprise,” he said in a text message.
There was no immediate response from attorneys for other defendants in the case.
A hearing was set for Friday morning in the federal lawsuit filed by Nichols’ mother against the five officers, the city of Memphis and its police department. The officers then are scheduled to appear in state court Friday afternoon.
Caught on police video, the beating of the 29-year-old Nichols was one in a string of violent encounters between police and Black people that sparked protests and renewed debate about police brutality and police reform in the U.S.
The Justice Department announced an investigation in July into how Memphis Police Department officers use force and conduct arrests, one of several “patterns and practices” investigations it has undertaken in other U.S. cities.
In March, the Justice Department said it was conducting a separate review concerning use of force, de-escalation strategies and specialized units in the Memphis Police Department.
Nichols’ mother has sued the city and its police chief over her son’s death.
The officers were part of a crime-suppression team known as Scorpion. They punched Nichols, kicked him and slugged him with a baton as he yelled for his mother, authorities and video showed. Authorities disbanded the Scorpion unit after Nichols’ death, though members of the unit have been moved to other teams.
The Memphis City Council subsequently passed an ordinance that outlawed so-called pretextual traffic stops, which include minor violations such as a broken tail light. But some activists have complained that the ordinance has not been consistently enforced.
Elsewhere, a federal civil rights case was filed last year against four Louisville, Kentucky, police officers over a drug raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman whose fatal shooting helped fuel racial justice protests that swept the nation in 2020. In Minneapolis, former police officers were convicted of violating the civil rights of George Floyd, whose death sparked those protests. Former officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years after pinning Floyd to the pavement for more than nine minutes as the Black man pleaded, “I can’t breathe.”
___
Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- Puerto Rican ex-boxer Félix Verdejo sentenced to life in prison in the killing of his pregnant lover
- Priscilla Presley recalls final moments with daughter Lisa Marie: 'She looked very frail'
- Riley Keough Debuts Jet-Black Hair in Dramatic Transformation
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Captain Lee Rosbach Officially Leaving Below Deck: Meet His Season 11 Replacement
- Will Taylor Swift be at the Chiefs’ game in Germany? Travis Kelce wouldn’t say
- Toxic Pesticides Are Sprayed Next to Thousands of US Schools
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Israel deports thousands of Palestinian workers back to Gaza’s war zone
Ranking
- 'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
- Why Kim Kardashian Really Fired Former Assistant Steph Shep
- California man who squatted at Yosemite National Park vacation home gets over 5 years in prison
- Right turn on red? With pedestrian deaths rising, US cities are considering bans
- Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
- Next level: Unmanned U.S. Navy boat fires weapons in Middle East for first time
- The Trump-DeSantis rivalry grows more personal and crude as the GOP candidates head to Florida
- Robert De Niro’s former top assistant says she found his back-scratching behavior ‘creepy’
Recommendation
San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
Aldi releases 2023 Advent calendars featuring wine, beer, cheese: See the full list
Trump, other Republicans call for travel restrictions, sparking new 'Muslim ban' fears
Toxic Pesticides Are Sprayed Next to Thousands of US Schools
Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
UAE-based broadcaster censors satiric ‘Last Week Tonight’ over Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi killing
Blinken warns Israel that humanitarian conditions in Gaza must improve to have ‘partners for peace’
Japan’s Princess Kako arrives in Peru to mark 150 years of diplomatic relations