When Memphis, Tennessee, officers stopped and mortality attacked 26-year-old Tyre Nichols on Jan. 7, 2023, it was not until weeks after Nichols’ death that seven officers were fired, and five were charged with second-degree murder, as well as a slew of other charges. Only six of the officers fired have been named. The former officers charged are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith. All five officers charged were Black.
Shortly after video of the Nichols “arrest” became public, it became clear that the sixth officer, not charged, was white. This was due to the visual evidence of a white hand holding a Taser, and then using it on Nichols. That hand reportedly belonged to Preston Hemphill. Why Hemphill was fired but not also charged in the attack has remained a mystery.
Now, records submitted to the state give an even more damning account of Hemphill’s and others’ actions, and add to questions about Hemphill’s seeming immunity to the law in all of this.
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The documents include Hemphill’s information as well as a detailed account of how he failed as a law enforcement officer and lied in his official account of the Jan. 7 night when Nichols was arrested. According to the documents, Hemphill’s failures to Tyre Nichols are numerous:
When removing Nichols from his vehicle, he did so using the “assaultive statement,” “Get on the fucking ground, finna tase yo ass!” As the report points out, Nichols “was not using profanity,” nor did he “show signs of violence” toward Hemphill or the other officers. Further audio of Hemphill has him saying, “I hope they stomp his ass!” about Nichols.
The report points out that while Nichols was on the ground, he was pepper sprayed by Hemphill’s partner. This escalation on the part of the officers led to Nichols getting off of the ground and trying to distance himself from Hemphill and his partner. It was at this point that Hemphill decided to use a Taser on Nichols on an active street. The report concludes, “You put everyone involved at risk of serious bodily injuries due to oncoming traffic.”
Then the report gets into Hemphill’s lying. First, Hemphill said Nichols tried to “grab” his partner’s firearm. There is no video evidence of this whatsoever.
At a different point, it seems that Hemphill admitted to having not even seen Nichols’ alleged “reckless” driving—the excuse the suspected murderers used to stop Nichols in the first place.
Hemphill also claimed that Nichols “fought” with his partner, but as his own video camera shows—that didn’t happen. His partner threw Nichols to the ground.
On top of this, Hemphill didn’t even have his “city issued handcuffs,” and instead was carrying “two sets of handcuffs” that Hemphill owned, personally. This dangerous clown can’t even be bothered to carry around the correct equipment. Added to this is Hemphill remembering to note in his full-of-lies statement that he saw a “cellphone in the driver seat” of Nichols’ car when going through it, but then forgot to tag it. It was discovered in the impound.
In the end, Hemphill was fired for these allegations against him:
You deployed your Taser at a non-violent subject while he was running away from you and two other officers. Your on-duty conduct was unprofessional, and you failed to properly document and tag personal property from the subject's vehicle when you completed the tow ticket. You provided an untruthful report and oral statement. You did not have your city issued handcuffs at the time of the incident.
The questions now are: Why and how are there no criminal charges attached to Hemphill for this? And who is the seventh officer who was fired?
RELATED STORY: Ahead of bodycam footage release, 5 ex-cops arrested and charged for beating death of Tyre Nichols