A sixth police officer is the target of the disciplinary investigation into the fatal caning of African-American man Tire Nichols, for which five black officers were fired and charged with murder, Memphis police said Monday.
Preston Hemphill, a white police officer on duty in this major southern United States city since 2018, “has been suspended from beginning the investigation (…) along with the other officers,” local police officer Kim Elder said in a statement , without giving any further details.
On January 7, 29-year-old Tire Nichols was arrested by police officers from a special unit in Memphis, who accused him of a traffic violation: He died in hospital three days later, badly beaten.
Images of the tragedy, captured by the agents’ onboard cameras and surveillance cameras, were released on Friday.
We see the police brutally dragging the young man out of his vehicle. Pinned to the ground, he is sprayed with tear gas and attacked by an electric pulse gun. He then fled on foot to his mother’s house. If caught, he is beaten with kicks, fists and clubs.
The role of each police officer has not been released. But according to Tyre Nichols’ family lawyers, Preston Hemphill is the one who used his electric taser on the young man. According to her, he dropped “I hope they will smash him” as his colleagues pursued the young man.
“Why is his identity and role in Tyler’s death only being made public today?” Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci asked in a statement.
“One wonders why the white agent involved in this brutal attack was shielded from public attention, disciplinary action and prosecution?” they add, demanding “all answers.”
Tire Nichols’ ordeal sparked horror and misunderstanding across the United States. Several demonstrations in his honor took place across the country this weekend, without reaching the scale of the extraordinary mobilization following the death of George Floyd, choked to death by a white police officer in 2020.