MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — One of the fired former police officers accused in the Tyre Nichols beating allegedly took a photo of Nichols as he lay on the street, and sent it to six other people including a female acquaintance, according to documents obtained by WREG.
The Memphis Police department has submitted documents to a state board for the five former officers — Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., Justin Smith, Demetrius Haley, and Tadarrius Bean — to be decertified. The five also face charges including second-degree murder.
In the documents for Demetrius Haley, the files note:
“On your personal cell phone, you took two photographs while standing in front of the obviously injured subject after he was handcuffed. In your Garrity statement, you admitted you shared the photo in a text message with five (5) people; one civilian employee, two MPD officers, and one female acquaintance.”
The documents also state that Haley transmitted the photo to a sixth person, in violation of police policy.
On Jan. 7, several MPD officers pulled over 29-year-old Tyre Nichols in a traffic stop in the Hickory Hill neighborhood. He ran toward his parents’ house, resulting in a second encounter with police.
Video evidence shows officers kicking, hitting, and pepper-spraying Nichols before he was dragged across the pavement and propped up against a patrol car until medical help arrived.
At one point, an officer can be seen bending over Nichols and using his cell phone to take a photo.
The documents state Desmond Mills spoke with Nichols’ mother the night of the incident but he and the supervisor “did not obtain contact information or refused to provide an accurate account of her son’s encounter with police or his condition.”
They also state that Smith and Haley did not turn their body cameras on and Martin, Bean, and Mills took their body cameras off and placed them on nearby cars.
All five officers have been added to the county’s Giglio list, a list kept by the district attorney of compromised officers.
