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One of the former Memphis police officers charged with the murder of Tire Nichols allegedly punched an inmate while working as a corrections officer.
Demetrius Haley, 30, was accused in a 2016 lawsuit filed by Cordarlrius Sledge, 34, with participating in a violent beating inside the Shelby County Corrections Division.
“That could have been me,” Sledge told one. plug. He could be dead. As it is, my body still hurts from the blows. It’s going to hurt for life.
Haley is one of five former Memphis police officers charged with the brutal murder of 29-year-old Nichols, who was stopped by officers on January 7 as he was driving home before being pulled from his car, tasered and tasered. and he will escape.
The officers then caught up with him several minutes later and severely beat him, holding his wrists as they punched and kicked him.
Prior to his January 2023 arrest in the death of Tire Nichols, Demetrius Haley, 30, was charged with brutally assaulting an inmate in 2015.
Cordarlrius Sledge, 34, accused Haley of participating in a violent beating inside the Shelby County Correctional Division in May 2015.
Haley is one of five former Memphis police officers who have been charged with the brutal murder of 29-year-old Nichols, who was stopped by officers on January 7 as he was driving home.
Video of the incident was released Friday by the Memphis Police Department and sparked outrage and protests across the country over the beating.
Nichols was so badly beaten that he died on January 10 in hospital from his injuries.
In an interview with the New York PostSledge ruled on the lawsuit he filed against the institution and the officers.
The former inmate alleged that Haley was one of the most vicious attackers in the group. The attack in question took place inside the facility on May 16, 2015.
Sledge, who was serving a three-year sentence for aggravated assault, filed the lawsuit on his own, alleging that the group of corrections officers beat him while searching for a cell phone.
“When they came in to do one of their little random searches, they called me and two other guys to the shower area to get stripped,” Sledge said. nbc news.
“He had some contraband and was trying to flush it down the toilet, but they didn’t follow protocol. Haley was the most vicious,” Sledge said.
Haley joined the Memphis Police Department in August 2020
These are the five former police officers who were recently arrested and charged in the death of Tire Nichols
The man accused another officer of hitting his face against a sink.
“That’s when they started beating me,” he said. “They picked me up and hit my head against the sink, and I passed out.”
The former inmate said that when he woke up after losing consciousness during the attack, he woke up in his bed with blood coming from his ear.
‘There was so much blood on my pillow. It damaged my right ear for life,” she said.
Sledge told the Post that he received an apology from the director of the Shelby County Department of Corrections, but nothing from Haley.
The incident did not appear to affect the former corrections officer’s career, as he later moved to the Memphis Police Department in 2020.
Former Memphis police officers Tadarrius Bean (left) and Emmitt Martin III (right)
Former Memphis police officers Justin Smith (left) and Desmond Mills Jr. (right)
Court documents show Haley denied the allegations about Sledge’s beating.
The suit was subsequently dismissed after the plaintiff failed to provide the court with the evidence it had requested.
Despite the lawsuit being dismissed, Sledge said he couldn’t believe it when he heard that Haley had become a police officer.
“He got promoted, from prison officer to police officer,” Sledge said. ‘I didn’t believe my bloody eyes.’
Haley, along with fellow former officers Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith were arrested and charged with second-degree murder Thursday.
In addition to second-degree murder, the five were also charged with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression.
Second-degree murder, described by the Memphis district attorney as “knowing murder,” is punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.
Tire Nichols is shown at the hospital after the incident. The 29-year-old from Memphis died on January 10 of cardiac arrest and kidney failure.
On Thursday afternoon, District Attorney Steve Mulroy briefed the press, saying his team had moved “quickly, but also fairly” to review the case that led to the charges against the five officers.
The five former police offices were arrested and held on bonds of up to $350,000.
Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx driver, was pulled over Jan. 7 by Memphis police for what was initially reported as reckless driving.
That interaction led to a violent confrontation that landed him in hospital, where he would die three days later from “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.”
He reportedly went into cardiac arrest and kidney failure after the allegedly brutal interaction with officers.
WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE AND DISTURBING CONTENT
Nichols’ car is seen being pulled over at 8:24 pm in southeast Memphis on January 7.
Nichols stands up and runs. An officer yells: ‘Taser, taser!’ Nichols continues to run, partially removing his shirt as he runs.
Video was finally released Friday by the Memphis Police Department showing the beating.
The video shows Nichols crying for her mother multiple times during the brutal assault on January 7, which took place just 80 meters from her home.
‘Breast! Breast!’ Nichols screams as several officers pin him to the ground.
In one video, the FedEx driver is pepper sprayed in the face, kicked and punched in the head, and beaten with a metal baton.
“Watch out, I’m going to beat you up,” an officer tells Nichols. He beats him up, then walks away at 8:35 p.m., cane still in his right hand.
Outrage over the video has prompted police departments across the country to prepare for riots, with protesters expressing outrage over the man’s death.
The officers struggle with Nichols, lying on the ground.
Nichols is seen leaning against the car, bloody and barely conscious.
Nichols appears to be leaning against the car, unchecked.
The officers in the video are seen standing and chatting while Nichols groans.