Memphis, Tennessee
AP
—
A cybercrime expert with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation testified Wednesday that a former Memphis police officer charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols took a cellphone photo of Nichols as he sat on the ground, propped up against a police car and struggling with serious injuries.
TBI Special Agent Derek Miller testified in the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges including second-degree murder. The three defendants already face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a January 2023 traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother just steps from his home.
Footage of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in the United States and directed intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, a majority-Black city.
Video shows Haley taking a photo of Nichols, who was seated on the ground and leaning against a police car after the beating. Haley shared the photo 11 times and had text conversations with eight people about it, Miller said in the third day of the state trial.
The officers are charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
On Tuesday, defense attorneys worked to chip away at accusations that the officers used unnecessary force to subdue Nichols. Former Memphis officer Desmond Mills Jr., who also was charged in Nichols’ death, testified as a prosecution witness.
Mills and another officer involved in the beating, Emmitt Martin, have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial under deals with prosecutors. They also pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.
Mills testified that he regrets his failure to stop the beating, which led to Nichols’ death three days later from blunt force trauma. Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified Wednesday that Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain similar to those suffered by car accident victims.
As Nichols struggled with Bean and Smith, who were holding him on the ground, Mills tried to pepper-spray Nichols, but he ended up spraying himself, he said.
After stepping away to try to recover, Mills then walked up to Nichols and hit his arm three times with a police baton. Mills told prosecutor Paul Hagerman that he hit Nichols with the baton because he was angry over the pepper spray. Martin punched and kicked Nichols in the head.
Mills acknowledged on the stand that he had a duty to intervene to stop the beating, but didn’t.
Under cross-examination, Mills said Nichols was actively resisting arrest and not complying with orders to present his hands to be cuffed.
Defense attorney John Keith Perry asked Mills if he would have struck Nichols with the baton if Nichols had just put his hands behind his back. Mills said no.
Perry also asked Mills if he thought Bean and Smith were holding Nichols so Martin could hit Nichols. Mills said he didn’t think that was the case.
Martin Zummach, Smith’s attorney, asked Mills if an officer is safe if a suspect is not handcuffed and searched for a weapon. Mills said they were not safe in that circumstance. Nichols was not searched before he ran from the traffic stop.
Mills said about 80% to 90% of the arrests he made involved a suspect with a hidden weapon.
Mills acknowledged that the officers were afraid and exhausted, but said some of the methods used on Nichols complied with police department policies, including using wrist locks and hitting with a baton.
Mills admitted Nichols never punched, kicked or got on top of any officers.
In December, the Justice Department said a 17-month investigation showed the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.
