No charges for ex-Memphis police officer in Tyre Nichols stop

No criminal charges will be brought against a Memphis police officer who was fired for his involvement in the traffic stop that led to the death of Tyre Nichols, the Shelby County District Attorney said Tuesday. 

Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was brutally assaulted after he was pulled over on Jan. 7 for a traffic stop and died of his wounds three days later. On Tuesday, Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy shared an update regarding the investigation into Nichols’ death, saying no charges will be brought against former Memphis police Officer Preston Hemphill. 

Hemphill was terminated for several violations that included using a Taser, police said in February. 

Five other Memphis police officers were fired and criminally charged with second-degree murder and other counts after the traffic stop and the beating. 

The officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — pleaded not guilty to the charges in February.

Four of them cannot work as law enforcement officers again in Tennessee. The Peace Officer Standards & Training Commission, or P.O.S.T., voted to decertify Haley, Martin and Smith during a meeting in March. It also approved a decision by Mills to surrender his certification.

Bean and Hemphill have not yet had their decertification hearings in front of the commission. Neither has Dewayne Smith, the supervising lieutenant who arrived on scene after the beating, who retired instead of being fired. Smith and a seventh police employee who was not named after being relieved of duty have not been charged in the investigation.

Mulroy said that Hemphill was involved in the first encounter with Nichols during the traffic stop, but not in the second encounter when the assault took place. 

“By no means do we endorse the conduct of Officer Hemphill at that first traffic stop,” he said. “But we do not believe that criminal charges are appropriate.”

Hemphill is expected to testify at trial in the case, the DA said. 

Mulroy said that officials reviewed hours of body camera footage and conducted multiple hours of interviews with Hemphill.

In the January incident, Hemphill fired a stun gun at Nichols as he was running away from the initial traffic stop.

Mulroy said that in reviewing and analyzing body camera footage, Hemphill was trying to deploy the stun gun “because he saw Nichols was not fleeing towards the neighborhood, but was in fact heading towards an open car door of a police cruiser.”

“That had to bear weight on our evaluation of his decision,” he said.

Mulroy said that his office consulted with the family and attorney Ben Crump, who said they were in support of the decision to not press charges.

The DA said that Nichols’ autopsy is almost complete.

“We expect that it will confirm that Mr. Nichols died as a result of the injuries sustained during the beating,” he added.

Mulroy read a statement from Crump on behalf of Nichols’ family that said: “We understand that this individual has been fully cooperating with the investigation and has promised to provide substantial cooperation going forward. In light of this, we are supportive of no charges for this individual.”

“It is our deepest hope and expectation that justice will be served fully and that all who had a role to play in this senseless tragedy will be held accountable,” the statement said.