This Thursday, five former Memphis police officers were indicted on murder charges in Jan. 7 the beating of Tyre Nichols, who died in the hospital three days later, NBC News reports.
All five former officers were charged with second-degree murder, two counts of official misconduct, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of official oppression and one count of aggravated assault, prosecutors announced.
According to the indictment, the five officers – identified as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith – beat Nichols after he was pulled over in the Memphis’ Hickory Hill neighborhood for alleged reckless driving.
After an “initial altercation” when “pepper spray was deployed,” Nichols allegedly ran
“There was another altercation at a nearby location where serious injuries were experienced by Mr. Nichols,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told reporters. “After some period of time of waiting around afterward, he was taken way by an ambulance.”
Second-degree murder, the most serious of the charges, “is a knowing killing,” the DA said..
From NBC News:
Video of the encounter with Nichols will be released after 6 p.m. local time Friday, according to officials.Haley and Martin were being held in lieu of a $350,000 bond, while Bean and Smith will need to post $250,000 to leave custody, jail records showed.
Mills posted $250,000 bond and was released late Thursday afternoon, according to jail records.
“No one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die,” Martin’s attorney William Massey told reporters. “No one, no one. That’s shocking to the officer.”
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation led the probe and agency director David Rausch said the video will be clear cut.
“Simply put: This shouldn’t have happened,” he said. “I’ve been policing for more than 30 years, I’ve devoted my life to this profession and I’m aggrieved. Frankly, I’m shocked. I’m sickened by what I saw.”
Read more at NBC News.
