MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A federal investigation has revealed that the Memphis Police Department had major issues, including the use of excessive force and its mistreatment of Black people in the predominantly Black city, following Tyre Nicholsby’s fatal beating in January 2023 after he escaped from a traffic stop.
The results of a 17-month Department of Justice investigation of Memphis police, which started after Nichols was kicked, punched, and struck with a police baton, were made public in a report on Wednesday. The report will be discussed at a news conference Thursday morning by members of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The city of Memphis will then provide its own press availability and rebuttal.
Both Nichols and the previous officers who beat him were Black. His passing sparked nationwide demonstrations, increased the number of requests for police reform in the US, and brought Memphis’ police under close scrutiny. More than half of the Memphis Police Department’s officers are Black, including Chief of Police Cerelyn C.J. Davis.
The federal investigation examined the department’s use of force, stops, searches, and arrests, as well as whether or not it practices biased policing. In a letter made public prior to the report on Wednesday, the city stated that it would not consent to federal supervision of its police force until it had the opportunity to examine and contest the investigation’s findings.
According to the findings, police officers would kick, punch, and otherwise harm individuals who were already handcuffed or bound. The investigation characterized these actions as unlawful, although supervisors almost always gave their approval after the fact. According to the investigation, cops almost always use force that could inflict pain or harm in response to minor, nonviolent infractions, even when the perpetrator is not hostile.
According to the research, Memphis police officers frequently violate the rights of the people they are supposed to serve, and Black people in Memphis are disproportionately affected by these infractions.
According to the study, MPD has never examined its procedures for signs of discrimination. We discovered that when Black people engage in comparable behavior, cops penalize them more harshly than white people.
According to the report, Black individuals are cited or arrested by Memphis police at a rate of 13 times higher than white people for loitering or curfew violations, and at a rate of 3.6 times higher than white people for disorderly conduct.
Before Nichols fled from a traffic check, police were seen on camera pepper spraying him and using a Taser. Nichols yelled out for his mother as five policemen pursued him a few feet from his house. While Nichols battled his wounds, the police were shown on camera chatting and joking.
Three days after the beating, on January 10, 2023, Nichols passed away. The five officers—Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith—were indicted by a federal grand jury on civil rights and witness tampering charges, dismissed, and charged with murder in state court.
The Nichols instance is notably mentioned in the study, which also discusses the police department’s practice of conducting a lot of traffic stops in neighborhoods.
According to the report, this approach entails regular interactions with the public and grants officers a great deal of discretion, necessitating strict oversight and unambiguous guidelines to guide officers’ actions. However, MPD does not guarantee that officers behave legally.
According to the report, an unarmed individual with a mental illness attempted to take a $2 beverage from a petrol station and was subjected to pepper spray, kicks, and Taser shots by officers. The man spent two days in jail for stealing and disorderly behavior after an altercation outside the station resulted in at least nine police cars and twelve policemen responding to the scene.
In other instances, cops pepper-sprayed a handcuffed guy in the backseat of a squad car and left him there with the doors closed, even though the man complained that he was having trouble breathing, and struck him eight times with a baton in the face and torso. According to DOJ, no infractions were discovered.
According to the report, police training led officers to feel that using force to end an encounter was more likely than talking to a suspect to defuse the situation. Officers were instructed in one training exercise to “hurt them first and hurt them badly if a fight is inevitable.”
Memphis City Attorney Tannera George Gibson wrote to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to inform them that although the city had received a DOJ request to enter into a consent decree with federal oversight of the police department, it would not do so until it had the opportunity to examine and contest the investigation’s findings.
An agreement demanding reforms that is approved by a federal judge and monitored by an impartial monitor is known as a consent decree. The city may be required to pay fines for infractions, and the federal oversight may last for years.
“The City cannot and will not agree to work toward or enter into a consent decree that will likely be in place for years to come and will cost the residents of Memphis hundreds of millions of dollars,” the letter stated, “until the City has had the opportunity to review, analyze, and challenge the specific allegations that support your forthcoming findings report.”
The Scorpion Unit, a crime suppression team that included the officers involved in the Nichols investigation, was disbanded upon Nichols’ passing. In order to increase the number of arrests, the squad targeted violent offenders, illicit firearms, and drugs. They occasionally used force against unarmed individuals.
Despite concerns that the unit was poorly monitored, Memphis police never established policies and procedures to guide it, according to the report. Investigators were informed by prosecutors that if the cases proceeded to trial, they would be laughed out of court due to certain ludicrous discrepancies between arrest records and body camera evidence. Dozens of criminal charges were dismissed as a result of the unit’s misbehavior.
Martin and Mills entered guilty pleas to the federal counts in accordance with agreements with prosecutors during the judicial procedures surrounding Nichols’ death.In October, the other three policemen were found guilty of witness tampering in connection with the beating cover-up. On civil rights accusations of excessive force and disregard for Nichols’ severe injuries, Bean and Smith were found not guilty.
Haley was found guilty on two lesser counts of breaching Nichols’ civil rights by causing bodily harm, but he was exonerated of violating his rights by causing death. In the upcoming months, a federal judge will sentence all five men.
According to attorneys engaged in the case, Martin and Mills are also anticipated to modify their not-guilty pleas in state court. Smith, Bean, and Haley have entered not guilty pleas to the state’s second-degree murder allegations. The state case will go to trial on April 28.
In recent years, Justice Department investigators have conducted similar investigations in other places, such as Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd and Louisville, Kentucky, after an investigation sparked by Breonna Taylor’s death at the hands of police.
According to Memphis community organizer Pastor Earle Fisher, citizens have long witnessed police officers using the tactics described in the report.
Fisher stated, “We needed something like this to further validate the citizens’ narratives and testimonies.”
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Durkin Richer reported from Washington, while Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. From Chicago, Kristin M. Hall contributed.
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