Officers’ reports on fatal Tyre Nichols beating omitted punches and kicks, lieutenant testifies
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Three former Memphis police officers violated department rules when they failed to report being punched and kicked. Band Nichols on required forms that are submitted after the January 2023 fatal assaulta police lieutenant testified Friday.
Larnce Wrightwho trained the officers, testified about the reports written and filed by the officers, whose federal criminal trial began Monday. The reports, known as response-to-resistance forms, must contain complete and accurate statements about the type of force used, Wright said under questioning by a prosecutor, Kathryn Gilbert.
Jurors were shown the forms filed by the three officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith. The three pleaded not guilty to charges of depriving Nichols of his rights by excessive force and failure to intervene, and obstructing justice by witness tampering. None of the forms described hitting or kicking Nichols. Omitting those details violates department policy and exposes the officers to internal discipline and possible criminal charges.
Nichols, who was black, died on January 10, 2023, three days after the assault. Police video shows five officers, who are also black, beating Nichols as he screams for his mother, a block from her home. Video also shows the officers standing around and talking as Nichols struggles with his injuries.
Wright said the three officers’ reports did not match what was seen in the video.
“They didn’t say what force they used,” Wright said.
Wright also trained the officers’ two former colleagues, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., who have already pleaded guilty to civil rights violations in Nichols’ death. Martin and Mills are expected to testify for prosecutors.
Bean and Smith wrote in their reports that they used “soft hand techniques” with closed hands. Wright said such a technique does not exist in department policy.
Haley’s report doesn’t even say he was present at the assault, only that he was at the traffic stop.
Earlier Friday, defense attorneys argued that the response-to-resistance forms are a type of protected statement that should not be admitted as evidence at trial. The judge ruled that they could be used.
Kevin Whitmore, Bean’s attorney, questioned Wright about the difference between active and passive resistance. Wright said active resistance means a person is fighting officers. Defense attorneys have argued that Nichols was not following their commands and was fighting them during the arrest.
Wright began testifying Thursday, saying officers should have instead used armbars, wrist locks and other soft-handed tactics to restrain Nichols. He also testified that officers have a duty to physically intervene or call a supervisor to the scene if an officer sees another officer using more force than necessary.
District Attorney Elizabeth Rogers said Wednesday that the officers punished Nichols for fleeing a traffic stop and that they were just standing around during “crucial” minutes when Nichols’ heart stopped, when they could have helped him. Nichols had no pulse for 25 minutes before being revived at the hospital, according to testimony from Rachael Love, a nurse practitioner.
An autopsy report shows that Nichols died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and other areas.
All five officers belonged to the now-defunct Scorpion Unit crime-fighting team and were fired for violating Memphis Police Department regulations.
They were also charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty, though Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. No trial date has been set for the state court.
Wells told reporters Wednesday that she hopes to get three guilty verdicts and for the world to know that her son “was not the criminal they make him out to be.”
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Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.