It is kind of interesting how we still hear people say that Nichols "should have just complied" to avoid this beating but those same people probably believe that Ashley Babbit was murdered.
Justifiably, yes.
If he didn't run away this would have ended a lot differently. You can't argue that.
If the cops didn't drag him out of the car this would have ended a lot differently too.
right.
tempo, your last traffic stop, were you dragged out of your car from the jump?
This isn't about me, it's about the person who ran.
Before we all go piling on here I am bringing up a point. I am not justifying anything. Running away from the cops is never a good idea.
Running away from the cops shouldn’t result in being beaten to death. Full stop. Good lord.
NOBODY is saying it is. Stop trying to make it sound like that.
“If he only didn’t run from the cops.” WTF are you trying to convey with that statement. I’ll let you explain it to us.
If I said that then you'd have a point, but I didn't and you're changing what I actually did say.
“If he didn't run away this would have ended a lot differently.” How is your statement here in quotes different in meaning in how I expressed it?
So, again, WTF are you implying or conveying by making such a statement?
You tell me what I’m implying because you obviously have your mind made up on what it means.
“If only” puts blame on Tyler, that isn’t what I’m doing, The cops are to blame. I guess I need to state that again.
Sounds to me that it’s blame the victim time. Regardless, it’s a shitty statement.
It is kind of interesting how we still hear people say that Nichols "should have just complied" to avoid this beating but those same people probably believe that Ashley Babbit was murdered.
Justifiably, yes.
If he didn't run away this would have ended a lot differently. You can't argue that.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
It is kind of interesting how we still hear people say that Nichols "should have just complied" to avoid this beating but those same people probably believe that Ashley Babbit was murdered.
Justifiably, yes.
If he didn't run away this would have ended a lot differently. You can't argue that.
If the cops didn't drag him out of the car this would have ended a lot differently too.
right.
tempo, your last traffic stop, were you dragged out of your car from the jump?
This isn't about me, it's about the person who ran.
Before we all go piling on here I am bringing up a point. I am not justifying anything. Running away from the cops is never a good idea.
Running away from the cops shouldn’t result in being beaten to death. Full stop. Good lord.
NOBODY is saying it is. Stop trying to make it sound like that.
“If he only didn’t run from the cops.” WTF are you trying to convey with that statement. I’ll let you explain it to us.
If I said that then you'd have a point, but I didn't and you're changing what I actually did say.
“If he didn't run away this would have ended a lot differently.” How is your statement here in quotes different in meaning in how I expressed it?
So, again, WTF are you implying or conveying by making such a statement?
You tell me what I’m implying because you obviously have your mind made up on what it means.
“If only” puts blame on Tyler, that isn’t what I’m doing, The cops are to blame. I guess I need to state that again.
Sounds to me that it’s blame the victim time. Regardless, it’s a shitty statement.
I have said from the beginning the cops are wrong, in case you missed it again or don't want to re read what I previously stated.
No matter how I phrase it, you've made your mind up. It was meant to be brought up as a discussion not a blame game.
I do see how it can be viewed as a shitty statement too so I'll drop it and move on.
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,321
Add defending the environment to the things that could get you shot:
Thu 2 Feb 2023 03.51 ESTLast modified on Thu 2 Feb 2023 04.14 EST
The
shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, believed to be the first
environmental defender killed in the US, is the culmination of a
dangerous escalation in the criminalization and repression of those who
seek to protect natural resources in America, campaigners have warned.
The
death of the 26-year-old, who was also known as “Tortuguita” or “Little
Turtle,” in a forest on the fringes of Atlanta was the sort of deadly
act “people who have been paying attention to this issue assumed would
happen soon, with no sense of joy”, according to Marla Marcum, founder
of the Climate Disobedience Center, which supports climate protesters.
“The police and the state have a callousness
towards the lives of those on the frontline of environmental causes and I
hope this is a wake-up call to those who didn’t know that,” she said.
“I hope people take the time to notice what’s going on, because if this
trajectory of criminalization continues, no one is going to be safe.”
Terán was shot and killed by police
as officers from an assortment of forces swept through the small camp
of a loose-knit activist group defending the urban forest on 18 January.
Police say Terán shot and injured a Georgia state trooper with a
handgun first, but the Georgia bureau of investigation has said the
shooting was not recorded on body cameras, prompting calls for an
independent investigation.
State
and local authorities have reacted aggressively to protesters trying to
stop 85 acres of the forest being torn down to build a sprawling,
state-of-the-art, $90m police training complex – dubbed “Cop City” by
opponents as it will feature a mock city for “tactical” exercises.
******************
More at link.
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
7th Memphis officer disciplined, EMTs fired in Nichols death
By ADRIAN SAINZ
Today
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two more Memphis police officers have been disciplined and three emergency responders fired in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols, officials said Monday, widening the circle of punishment for the shocking display of police brutality after video showed many more people failed to help him beyond the five officers accused of beating him to death.
Officer Preston Hemphill, who is white, was relieved of duty shortly after Nichols’ Jan. 7 arrest, the police department announced. Later in the day it said another officer had also been relieved, but without naming the person or specifying what role they played in the incident.
That brought the total number of Memphis officers who have been disciplined to seven, including the five Black officers who were fired and charged last week with second-degree murder and other offenses in Nichols’ beating and Jan. 10 death.
Also Monday, Memphis Fire Department officials announced the dismissal of emergency medical technicians Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker. The EMTs had previously been suspended.
Fire Chief Gina Sweat said in a statement that the department received a call from police to respond to a report of a person who had been pepper-sprayed. The workers arrived at 8:41 p.m. as Nichols was handcuffed on the ground and slumped against a squad car, the statement said.
Long and Sandridge, based on the nature of the call and information they were told by police, “failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols,” the statement said. Whitaker and the driver remained in the engine.
An ambulance was called, and it arrived at 8:55 p.m., the statement said. An emergency unit cared for Nichols and left for a hospital with him at 9:08 p.m. — 27 minutes after Long, Sandridge and Whitaker arrived, officials said.
An investigation determined that all three violated “multiple” policies and protocols, the statement said, adding that “their actions or inactions on the scene that night do not meet the expectations of the Memphis Fire Department.”
The killing of Nichols, who was Black, has led to days of public discussion of how police forces can treat Black citizens with excessive violence, regardless of the race of both the police officers and those being policed.
On body camera footage from the initial stop, Hemphill is heard saying that he stunned Nichols and declaring, “I hope they stomp his ass.”
Nichols' death was the latest example in a long string of early police accounts regarding use of force that were later shown to have minimized or ignored violent and sometimes deadly encounters.
Memphis Police Department officers used a stun gun, a baton and their fists as they pummeled Nichols during the nighttime arrest. Video shows Nichols running away from officers toward his house after he was pulled over on suspicion of reckless driving. Nichols, a 29-year-old father, was heard calling for his mother and seen struggling with his injuries as he sat helpless on the pavement, video footage released Friday showed.
The five officers chatted and milled about for several minutes as Nichols remained on the ground, but there were other authorities on the scene. Two Shelby County sheriff’s deputies have been relieved of duty without pay while their conduct is investigated.
In the Nichols case, the police department has been responsible for internal disciplinary measures, such as firings, while the Shelby County district attorney has handled the criminal charges.
Hemphill was the third officer at a traffic stop that preceded the violent arrest but was not at the scene where Nichols was beaten, his lawyer Lee Gerald said. Hemphill turned on his body camera, in line with department policy, he added.
Lawyers for the Nichols family questioned Monday why the department did not disclose Hemphill’s discipline earlier and why he has not been fired or charged.
“We have asked from the beginning that the Memphis Police Department be transparent with the family and the community — this news seems to indicate that they haven’t risen to the occasion,” attorneys Ben Crump and Anthony Romanucci said in a statement. “It certainly begs the question why the white officer involved in this brutal attack was shielded and protected from the public eye, and to date, from sufficient discipline and accountability.”
Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said information on disciplinary action taken against Hemphill was not immediately released because Hemphill was not fired. The department generally gives out information about an officer's punishment only after a department investigation into misconduct ends, Rudolph said.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ" Davis told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that a "lack of supervision in this incident was a major problem.”
“When officers are working, you should have at least one supervisor for every group or squad of people," Davis said. "Not just somebody who’s at the office doing the paperwork, somebody who’s actually embedded in that unit.”
Calls for more officers to be fired or charged have been loud and persistent from the Nichols family, their lawyers and community activists who have peacefully protested in Memphis since the video was released. The video was evocative of the arrest of George Floyd in 2020 and officers' failure to intervene.
On Saturday, Nichols' stepfather, Rodney Wells, told The Associated Press that the family was going to “continue to seek justice and get some more officers arrested.”
“Questions were raised before the video was released, I raised those questions,” Wells said. “I just felt there was more than five officers out there. Now, five were charged with murder because they were the main participants, but there were five or six other officers out there that didn’t do anything to render any aid. So they are just as culpable as the officers who threw the blows.”
Memphis City Council member Martavius Jones said Monday that police policies on rendering aid and de-escalation appeared to have been violated.
“When everybody saw the video, we see that you have multiple officers just standing around, when Mr. Nichols is in distress, that just paints a totally different picture,” Jones said
Jones said he believes more officers should be disciplined.
“At this point, what's going to be helpful for this community is to see how swiftly the police chief deals with those other officers now that everybody has seen the tape and knows that is wasn't only five officers who were at the scene the entire time,” Jones said.
The five fired officers and Hemphill were part of the so-called Scorpion unit, which targeted violent criminals in high-crime areas. Davis, the police chief, said Saturday that the unit has been disbanded.
Nichols' funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday at a Memphis church.
___
This story was first published on January 30, 2023. It was updated on February 2, 2023, to correct the spelling of the name of one of the fired workers to JaMichael Sandridge, not JaMicheal Sandridge.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Michigan judge orders trial of ex-cop charged with murder
1 hour ago
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) —
A Michigan judge on Friday refused to dismiss a second-degree murder charge against a former Grand Rapids police officer who was fired after shooting a Black motorist in the back of the head during a struggle over a Taser.
Christopher Schurr is scheduled for trial March 13 in the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya last April. Circuit Judge Christina Elmore rejected defense attorneys' motion to throw out the case.
Schurr’s lawyers argued he acted in self-defense and that Michigan law allows police officers to use deadly force to stop someone from fleeing and to make an arrest. Video recordings showed Schurr was straddling Lyoya's body as the Congolese refugee lay face down beneath him.
Prosecutors said the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding probable cause to proceed to trial. A judge at a preliminary hearing found sufficient evidence that a jury could conclude Schurr did not reasonably believe his life was immediately at risk.
Schurr was fired last June after spending months on paid leave. He spent one night in jail, then posted bond.
Attorneys for Lyoya’s family have filed a separate civil lawsuit against Schurr and the city of Grand Rapids.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I read some stuff earlier that suggested one of the cops was out for Nichols because he had been dating the cops ex-wife. Like this whole thing was a vendetta which honestly makes sense.
Not sure of the validity of that story. We'll see if anything breaks.
I didn’t know TMZ was a acceptable source to share “stuff” on here??? But it sure makes sence….Come on man!!!
I read some stuff earlier that suggested one of the cops was out for Nichols because he had been dating the cops ex-wife. Like this whole thing was a vendetta which honestly makes sense.
Not sure of the validity of that story. We'll see if anything breaks.
I didn’t know TMZ was a acceptable source to share “stuff” on here??? But it sure makes sence….Come on man!!!
Well....I didn't post a source. And I don't think I could have been any clearer in questioning the source when I said "Not sure of the validity of that story. We'll see if anything breaks."
I try to be clear you know?
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018) The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
Officer who said ‘happy hunting’ before shooting suspended
Today
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles police SWAT officer who was recorded on body-camera video telling his team “happy hunting” before a fatal police shooting last year has received a two-day suspension after an internal investigation, according to LAPD disciplinary records.
The records obtained by the Los Angeles Times identify the officer by his rank — police officer III — but don’t name him, due to state privacy laws.
The officer made the remark while preparing with other SWAT officers to surround an armed who had barricaded inside an apartment building. Police said the suspect fired down from a window and the officers returned fire, killing him.
Department officials have said that the remark was caught on the body camera of another officer and was discovered during a subsequent review of video from the incident.
The episode was seized on by department critics, who said it reflected a culture of brutality and callousness within SWAT, the Times said.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore at the time said he was disturbed by the “happy hunting” comment, but said the unit’s members have consistently shown restraint and skill while handling difficult and dangerous situations.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
'Deadly brew': Amid soaring crime, Memphis cops lowered bar
By BERNARD CONDON, JIM MUSTIAN and ADRIAN SAINZ
Today
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Beyond the beating, kicking, cursing and pepper spraying, the video of Tyre Nichols’ deadly arrest at the hands of young Memphis police officers is just as notable for what's missing — any experienced supervisors showing up to stop them.
That points to a dangerous confluence of trends that Memphis’ police chief acknowledged have dogged the department as the city became one of the nation’s murder hotspots: a chronic shortage of officers, especially supervisors, increasing numbers of police quitting and a struggle to bring in qualified recruits.
Former Memphis police recruiters told The Associated Press of a growing desperation to fill hundreds of slots in recent years that drove the department to increase incentives and lower its standards.
“They would allow just pretty much anybody to be a police officer because they just want these numbers,” said Alvin Davis, a former lieutenant in charge of recruiting before he retired last year out of frustration. “They’re not ready for it."
The department offered new recruits $15,000 signing bonuses and $10,000 relocation allowances while phasing out requirements to have either college credits, military service or previous police work. All that's now required is two years' work experience — any work experience. The department also sought state waivers to hire applicants with criminal records. And the police academy even dropped timing requirements on physical fitness drills and removed running entirely because too many people were failing.
“I asked them what made you want to be the police and they’ll be honest — they'll tell you it’s strictly about the money,” Davis said, adding that many recruits would ask the minimum time they would actually have to serve to keep the bonus money. “It’s not a career for them like it was to us. It’s just a job.”
Another former patrol officer-turned-recruiter who recently left the department told the AP that in addition to drawing from other law enforcement agencies and college campuses, recruits were increasingly coming from jobs at the McDonald’s and Dunkin’ drive-thrus.
In one case, a stripper submitted an application. And even though she didn’t get hired, it reinforced the message that “anyone can get this job. You could have any type of experience and be the police.”
“There were red flags,” said the former recruiter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel and hiring. “But we’re so far down the pyramid nobody really hears the little person."
Many young officers, before ever walking a beat with more experienced colleagues, found themselves thrust into specialized units like the now-disbanded SCORPION high-crime strike force involved in Nichols’ arrest. Their lack of experience was shocking to veterans, who said some young officers who transfer back to patrol don’t even know how to write a traffic ticket or respond to a domestic call.
“They don’t know a felony from a misdemeanor,” Davis said. “They don’t even know right from wrong yet.”
Memphis police did not respond to requests for comment about their hiring standards.
Of the five SCORPION team officers now charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ Jan. 7 beating, two had only a couple of years on the force and none had more than six years’ experience.
One of the officers, Emmitt Martin III, 30, a former tight end on the Bethel University football team, appeared to have had at least one arrest, according to files from the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, a state oversight agency. But the date and details of the case were blacked out.
The section for arrests in the agency's file for another officer, Demetrius Haley, 30, who worked at a Shelby County Corrections facility before joining the force, was also redacted from the state records. Haley was sued for allegedly beating an inmate there, which he denied, and the case was dismissed because papers had not been properly served.
“If you lower standards, you can predict that you’re going to have problems because we’re recruiting from the human race,” said Ronal Serpas, the former head of the police in Nashville and New Orleans and the Washington State Patrol. “There’s such a small number of people who want to do this and an infinitesimally smaller number of people we actually want doing this.”
Memphis, in many ways, stands as a microcosm of the myriad crises facing American policing. Departments from Seattle to New Orleans are struggling to fill their ranks with qualified officers amid a national movement of mounting scrutiny and calls for reform in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
Boosting staffing was a major goal of Memphis police Director Cerelyn Davis when she took over in June 2021, with her department announcing it was aiming to increase staff from 2,100 to 2,500, close to the size of the force a decade ago. Instead, the police ranks have dropped to 1,939 officers — like the city, majority Black — even as the population has increased and the number of homicides topped 300 in each of the past two years.
A big part of the reason for the dwindling ranks is that more than 1,350 officers either resigned or retired over the past decade — more than 300 in the last two years alone.
In an interview with the AP last week, Davis said a lack of supervisors was a particular concern, noting that 125 new supervisor slots have been approved by the city but still not filled.
Davis said the department is investigating, among other things, why a supervisor failed to respond to Nichols’ arrest despite department policy that requires a ranking officer when pepper spray or a stun gun has been deployed.
“If that had happened somebody could have been there to intercept what happened,” Davis said.
“Culture eats policy for lunch in police departments,” she added. “If you don’t have the checks and balances you will have problems."
Michael Williams, former head of the Memphis Police Association, the officers' union, said strict supervision is essential, especially for the specialized teams like SCORPION.
“Why would you have an elite task force that you know is designed for aggressive policing and you don’t cover your bases? They may have to shoot someone. They may have to kick someone’s door down. They may have to physically restrain someone,” Williams said. “You should have experienced people around to restrain them and keep them from going down a dark path.”
Longtime observers of the Memphis police say this is not the first moment of reckoning for a department with a history of civil rights abuses.
After the 2015 death of Darrius Stewart, a 19-year-old Black man fatally shot by a white police officer, activists and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, called on the U.S. Justice Department to conduct a “pattern or practice” investigation of civil rights violations in the department. Such inquiries often result in sweeping reforms, including staffing and training overhauls.
Carlos Moore, an attorney for Stewart's family, warned the Justice Department at the time of a deadly trend that preceded Stewart's death. “There have been over 24 suspicious killings of civilians by officers of the Memphis Police Department since 2009," he wrote in a 2015 letter obtained by AP, “and not one officer has been indicted for killing unarmed, largely Black young men.”
The Justice Department decided not to open such an inquiry for reasons it didn't explain at the time, and it declined to comment this week.
“The Department of Justice missed a golden opportunity to properly investigate the Memphis Police Department,” Moore said in an interview. “It was just as corrupt then as it is now.”
Thaddeus Johnson, a former Memphis police officer who is now a criminal justice professor at Georgia State University, said the missed chance for federal intervention allowed the problems of the department — soaring crime, community distrust and chronic understaffing — to fester until they exploded.
“A deadly brew came together," he said. “But that same mixture is in many other places, too, where the bubble just hasn’t burst yet.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Memphis officer took, shared photos of bloodied Tyre Nichols
By ADRIAN SAINZ and JONATHAN MATTISE
1 hour ago
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Documents released Tuesday provided a scathing account of what authorities called the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop last month — including new revelations about how one officer took and shared pictures of the bloodied victim.
The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols as he lay critically injured from the beating and took photographs, which he sent to other officers and a female acquaintance, according to documents released by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission.
“Your on-duty conduct was unjustly, blatantly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sworn public servant,” the Memphis Police Department wrote in requesting that Haley and the other officers be decertified.
Haley's lawyer declined to comment, and lawyers for the other four officers either declined to comment or did not respond to requests from The Associated Press.
The five officers — Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — have all been fired and charged with second-degree murder. The new documents, signed by Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ" Davis, offer the most detailed account to date of each individual officer's actions during the incident. Davis signed each of the five requests to decertify the officers.
Another officer has also been fired and a seventh has been relieved of duty. As many as 13 Memphis officers could end up being disciplined in connection with the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, officials said Tuesday.
The newly released documents are part of a request by the Memphis Police Department that the five officers who have been charged with murder be decertified and prohibited from working in law enforcement again.
Haley, who was driving an unmarked car and wore a black sweatshirt hoodie over his head, forced Nichols from his car using loud profanity, then sprayed him directly in the eyes with a chemical irritant spray, according to the statement.
“You never told the driver the purpose of the vehicle stop or that he was under arrest,” it states.
Haley did not have his body camera on when he stopped Nichols but was on a phone call with someone who overheard the encounter.
Nichols ran from the officers but was apprehended again a few blocks away. At that point, Haley kicked him in the torso as three other officers were handcuffing him. Other officers kicked Nichols in the face, punched him or struck him with a baton. According to footage captured on a utility pole camera, one of the officers appears to quickly take a photo of Nichols on his phone at the 7:55 minute mark as flashlights are shined on him.
“You and other officers were captured on body worn camera making multiple unprofessional comments, laughing, bragging about your involvement,” the decertification charges against Mills said.
The decertification charges against Mills noted, “You admitted you did not provide immediate medical aid and walked away and decontaminated yourself from chemical irritant spray.”
Martin claimed Nichols tried to grab the officer’s gun from his holster after another officer forced him out of the vehicle, the police chief wrote. Audio from a body camera did not capture Nichols using profanity or making violent threats. Martin, meanwhile, used disparagingly profane language as he commanded Nichols to put his arm behind his back.
On a required form, Martin claimed Nichols grabbed his duty weapon before the officers took him to the ground. However, video evidence doesn’t corroborate that, the police chief wrote. Martin later told investigators that the details were correct. Martin also failed to disclose that he punched Nichols in the face and kicked him multiple times in the form, and instead added in his later statement to investigators that he gave “body blows.”
Police deemed the oral and written statements as deceitful, the chief wrote.
Nichols died three days after the beating.
——
Associated Press reporters Travis Loller and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed. Mattise reported from Nashville.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I know some of y’all adore this ACAB philosophy I recently learned about, but here is the real ABUSE aimed towards the ones that put it all one the line for such a ungrateful public. RIP Officer, there are some who still get it and support the Blue and all you do to keep us safe.
Memphis officer took, shared photos of bloodied Tyre Nichols
By ADRIAN SAINZ and JONATHAN MATTISE
1 hour ago
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Documents released Tuesday provided a scathing account of what authorities called the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop last month — including new revelations about how one officer took and shared pictures of the bloodied victim.
The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols as he lay critically injured from the beating and took photographs, which he sent to other officers and a female acquaintance, according to documents released by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission.
“Your on-duty conduct was unjustly, blatantly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sworn public servant,” the Memphis Police Department wrote in requesting that Haley and the other officers be decertified.
Haley's lawyer declined to comment, and lawyers for the other four officers either declined to comment or did not respond to requests from The Associated Press.
The five officers — Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — have all been fired and charged with second-degree murder. The new documents, signed by Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ" Davis, offer the most detailed account to date of each individual officer's actions during the incident. Davis signed each of the five requests to decertify the officers.
Another officer has also been fired and a seventh has been relieved of duty. As many as 13 Memphis officers could end up being disciplined in connection with the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, officials said Tuesday.
The newly released documents are part of a request by the Memphis Police Department that the five officers who have been charged with murder be decertified and prohibited from working in law enforcement again.
Haley, who was driving an unmarked car and wore a black sweatshirt hoodie over his head, forced Nichols from his car using loud profanity, then sprayed him directly in the eyes with a chemical irritant spray, according to the statement.
“You never told the driver the purpose of the vehicle stop or that he was under arrest,” it states.
Haley did not have his body camera on when he stopped Nichols but was on a phone call with someone who overheard the encounter.
Nichols ran from the officers but was apprehended again a few blocks away. At that point, Haley kicked him in the torso as three other officers were handcuffing him. Other officers kicked Nichols in the face, punched him or struck him with a baton. According to footage captured on a utility pole camera, one of the officers appears to quickly take a photo of Nichols on his phone at the 7:55 minute mark as flashlights are shined on him.
“You and other officers were captured on body worn camera making multiple unprofessional comments, laughing, bragging about your involvement,” the decertification charges against Mills said.
The decertification charges against Mills noted, “You admitted you did not provide immediate medical aid and walked away and decontaminated yourself from chemical irritant spray.”
Martin claimed Nichols tried to grab the officer’s gun from his holster after another officer forced him out of the vehicle, the police chief wrote. Audio from a body camera did not capture Nichols using profanity or making violent threats. Martin, meanwhile, used disparagingly profane language as he commanded Nichols to put his arm behind his back.
On a required form, Martin claimed Nichols grabbed his duty weapon before the officers took him to the ground. However, video evidence doesn’t corroborate that, the police chief wrote. Martin later told investigators that the details were correct. Martin also failed to disclose that he punched Nichols in the face and kicked him multiple times in the form, and instead added in his later statement to investigators that he gave “body blows.”
Police deemed the oral and written statements as deceitful, the chief wrote.
Nichols died three days after the beating.
——
Associated Press reporters Travis Loller and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed. Mattise reported from Nashville.
i am not surprised by this at all.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
1st officer in Nichols arrest accused of brutality at prison
By TRAVIS LOLLER and ADRIAN SAINZ
21 mins ago
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Years before Memphis Police officer Demetrius Haley pulled Tyre Nichols from his car on Jan. 7, setting in motion a deadly confrontation, Haley was accused of taking part in the savage beating of an inmate at a county prison.
The 2015 assault of the inmate was so disturbing that 34 others — the entire cellblock — signed a letter to the corrections director.
“We are truly asking that this matter gets looked into before someone gets hurt really bad or lose their life because of some unprofessional officers," the letter stated.
The warning from dozens of inmates at the Shelby County prison is the clearest indication yet that one of the five officers who took part in the violent beating of Nichols had an event in his past that should have raised concerns before he was hired as a police officer. Nichols died three days after the beating.
The letter asks how the inmates are supposed to feel “safe and secure when the staff members at the Shelby County Correctional Center are assaulting and threatening us?”
It concludes, “Please put a stop to this madness.”
Shelby County did not respond to a request Friday seeking information about its investigation into the beating allegations, so it is unclear if Haley was disciplined or cleared of the assault. An email was sent Friday to a police spokesperson asking if the department knew about the allegations when Haley was hired.
There is no national database of officers found guilty of misconduct who resign or are fired, meaning in a lot of cases they can apply for jobs in other police agencies and departments. There is a national database for officers who lose their certification — the equivalent of their professional license to be a police officer in a particular state. That wouldn't have made a difference in Haley's case because his job at the county prison didn't require police certification.
The former officer has been charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death, along with ex- officers Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith. All except Bean have infractions in their work records. Policy violations include using minor physical force during an arrest and failing to fill out a form about it; failing to report a domestic violence situation; and a car crash, records show.
The prior accusations against Haley came to light because the inmate, Cordarlrius Sledge, filed a federal lawsuit in 2016 against him and two others. It accused Haley and another officer of punching him, and a third of slamming his head into the floor. The suit was ultimately dismissed on procedural grounds, because Sledge had failed to file a grievance with the prison, which houses inmates in the Memphis area who have been tried and convicted.
Haley continued to work for the Division of Corrections until hired by Memphis Police in 2020, at a time when the department was lowering its standards for recruits in an attempt to fill vacancies. According to records in his personnel file, a previous application to the police department was rejected, but the reason for that rejection is blacked out.
A sixth officer who participated in Nichols’ arrest and beating, Preston Hemphill, has been fired but not criminally charged. He initially failed a physical after he was hired in 2019 and spent several months in a civilian position.
Van Turner, president of the NAACP’s Memphis branch, said Tyre Nichols’ death could have been prevented if the police department had not hired Haley.
“The culture of violence and bravado and the lack of empathy for individuals is not only here in our neighborhoods and communities, but unfortunately also in our jails and prison system,” said Turner, who is running for mayor.
Haley, Hemphill, and the four other officers were all eventually assigned to the Scorpion unit, an acronym for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods. The anti-crime task force that Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis started when she took over the department in June 2021 was designed to focus on repeat violent offenders, but has been accused of violent and illegal tactics.
Black residents of Memphis have described police sweeps in which unmarked cars roll into neighborhoods and armed plainclothes officers jump out, rushing traffic violators and issuing commands. The resulting fear has led people to text, call and use social media to caution each other to stay inside or avoid the area when police operations are underway.
Davis initially defended but later disbanded the Scorpion unit after Nichols’ death.
Haley has not spoken publicly about his role in Nichols' arrest and beating. He declined to make a statement at his disciplinary hearing, and his attorney has declined to comment. When a reporter from The Associated Press knocked on Haley’s door this week, no one answered.
Neighbors who live in single-family homes near Haley, in a quiet section of the Memphis suburb of Cordova, said he moved into the house about two years ago. Michael Cassie said he didn’t have many conversations with Haley, but the ones he did have were friendly. Haley mostly kept to himself and has not been seen around the neighborhood in recent weeks, said Cassie, a 74-year-old minister.
Asked about his reaction when he learned of Haley’s involvement with Nichols, Cassie said, “I was totally shocked that it was him.”
___
This story has been corrected to change all references from jail to prison.
___
Loller reported from Nashville. Associated Press news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York and AP reporter Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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Officer drew gun as he approached Tyre Nichols, report finds
By TRAVIS LOLLER and ADRIAN SAINZ
Yesterday
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — One of three Memphis Police officers who initially detained Tyre Nichols last month has admitted he did not witness the alleged reckless driving that was the justification for pulling over Nichols but still approached his car while brandishing his gun, according to police documents seeking to bar him from working in law enforcement.
Officer Preston Hemphill’s own body camera showed that from the very beginning of the traffic stop he and two other officers approached Nichols with force that was disproportionate for the alleged offense of reckless driving, according to a statement from the disciplinary hearing that took place before he was fired.
Hemphill was fired last week but has not been charged for his role in Nichols' beating and arrest, which has sparked widespread outrage and reignited a national discussion of police brutality against Black people. Five other officers, who are Black and were caught on video pummeling Nichols with their fists, feet and a baton, have been charged with murder and other offenses.
Hemphill did not take part in the second, more violent encounter, which took place after Nichols ran from police. But the documents highlight that he was heard on his body camera telling his partner: “I hope they stomp his ass!”
The information about Hemphill’s actions is contained in supporting documents attached to a Wednesday request from Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis to strip Hemphill, who is white, of his police certification so that he could not work in law enforcement again. Hemphill’s lawyer did not immediately comment Thursday because he had not fully read the documents.
The documents help create a fuller picture of the initial encounter with the 29-year-old Nichols that involved Hemphill, Demetrius Haley and Emmitt Martin III. Haley and Martin were fired last month and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols' death along with Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith.
The police chief has said she saw no justification in video of the incident for pulling Nichols over in the first place.
Meanwhile, the office of the top prosecutor in Memphis said in a statement Thursday that it will review all previous cases, “closed and pending,” of the five officers charged in the Nichols investigation. It was not immediately clear how many cases the review by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office will involve, but there is at least a chance that some cases could be re-opened if problems emerge.
The new documents state that Nichols was not given the opportunity to step out of the car before being forced out by Haley. Martin then grabbed one of Nichols’ wrists and claimed that Nichols tried to grab his gun. That claim was later repeated by Hemphill and Haley but was contradicted by the video evidence.
Once they had Nichols out of his car, the officers took him to the ground while yelling profanity at him. Hemphill threatened to use a stun gun on Nichols, while placing the gun against Nichols’ leg. Martin threatened to break one of his arms. Haley sprayed Nichols in the eyes with pepper spray while he was on the ground.
Nichols, by contrast, was “not using profanity” or showing any “signs of violence,” according to the documents. When Nichols managed to get free and started running away, Hemphill deployed his stun gun, even though police policy forbids the use of a stun gun against a subject who is running away or as a means of gaining compliance with someone who is not violent.
The hearing officer also faulted Hemphill for deploying his stun gun while Nichols was in the middle of the street. “You put everyone involved at risk of serious bodily injuries due to oncoming traffic,” the statement reads.
Within a few minutes, Bean, Mills and Smith caught Nichols a few blocks away and began beating him. They were joined by Haley and Martin, while Hemphill remained with the vehicle.
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I prefer it when said shithead ends up dead, but the fact the police used the cuffs of the fallen officer on this oxygen thief will suffice…Thank you got your service for such a ungrateful ACAB public…
I prefer it when said shithead ends up dead, but the fact the police used the cuffs of the fallen officer on this oxygen thief will suffice…Thank you got your service for such a ungrateful ACAB public…
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for being a seeming law and order person, they seem to suggest extra-judicial killing is ok......
Just a few years before we’ll be skipping the trial, asking people to come on down to the town square or out in front of town/city hall and passing out pails of rocks or rolling the crane out. There are people who are totally fine with a fascist or authoritarian government. Totally fine with the constitution only applying to certain people and definitely not the “other.”
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Comments
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
so how does that end differently?
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/opinions/tyre-nichols-funeral-black-drivers-wiley/index.html
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
No matter how I phrase it, you've made your mind up. It was meant to be brought up as a discussion not a blame game.
I do see how it can be viewed as a shitty statement too so I'll drop it and move on.
Atlanta shooting part of alarming US crackdown on environmental defenders
Twenty states have enacted laws restricting rights to peaceful protest, as environmentalists are increasingly criminalized
The shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, believed to be the first environmental defender killed in the US, is the culmination of a dangerous escalation in the criminalization and repression of those who seek to protect natural resources in America, campaigners have warned.
The death of the 26-year-old, who was also known as “Tortuguita” or “Little Turtle,” in a forest on the fringes of Atlanta was the sort of deadly act “people who have been paying attention to this issue assumed would happen soon, with no sense of joy”, according to Marla Marcum, founder of the Climate Disobedience Center, which supports climate protesters.
“The police and the state have a callousness towards the lives of those on the frontline of environmental causes and I hope this is a wake-up call to those who didn’t know that,” she said. “I hope people take the time to notice what’s going on, because if this trajectory of criminalization continues, no one is going to be safe.”
Terán was shot and killed by police as officers from an assortment of forces swept through the small camp of a loose-knit activist group defending the urban forest on 18 January. Police say Terán shot and injured a Georgia state trooper with a handgun first, but the Georgia bureau of investigation has said the shooting was not recorded on body cameras, prompting calls for an independent investigation.
State and local authorities have reacted aggressively to protesters trying to stop 85 acres of the forest being torn down to build a sprawling, state-of-the-art, $90m police training complex – dubbed “Cop City” by opponents as it will feature a mock city for “tactical” exercises.
******************-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two more Memphis police officers have been disciplined and three emergency responders fired in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols, officials said Monday, widening the circle of punishment for the shocking display of police brutality after video showed many more people failed to help him beyond the five officers accused of beating him to death.
Officer Preston Hemphill, who is white, was relieved of duty shortly after Nichols’ Jan. 7 arrest, the police department announced. Later in the day it said another officer had also been relieved, but without naming the person or specifying what role they played in the incident.
That brought the total number of Memphis officers who have been disciplined to seven, including the five Black officers who were fired and charged last week with second-degree murder and other offenses in Nichols’ beating and Jan. 10 death.
Also Monday, Memphis Fire Department officials announced the dismissal of emergency medical technicians Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker. The EMTs had previously been suspended.
Fire Chief Gina Sweat said in a statement that the department received a call from police to respond to a report of a person who had been pepper-sprayed. The workers arrived at 8:41 p.m. as Nichols was handcuffed on the ground and slumped against a squad car, the statement said.
Long and Sandridge, based on the nature of the call and information they were told by police, “failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols,” the statement said. Whitaker and the driver remained in the engine.
An ambulance was called, and it arrived at 8:55 p.m., the statement said. An emergency unit cared for Nichols and left for a hospital with him at 9:08 p.m. — 27 minutes after Long, Sandridge and Whitaker arrived, officials said.
An investigation determined that all three violated “multiple” policies and protocols, the statement said, adding that “their actions or inactions on the scene that night do not meet the expectations of the Memphis Fire Department.”
The killing of Nichols, who was Black, has led to days of public discussion of how police forces can treat Black citizens with excessive violence, regardless of the race of both the police officers and those being policed.
On body camera footage from the initial stop, Hemphill is heard saying that he stunned Nichols and declaring, “I hope they stomp his ass.”
Nichols' death was the latest example in a long string of early police accounts regarding use of force that were later shown to have minimized or ignored violent and sometimes deadly encounters.
Memphis Police Department officers used a stun gun, a baton and their fists as they pummeled Nichols during the nighttime arrest. Video shows Nichols running away from officers toward his house after he was pulled over on suspicion of reckless driving. Nichols, a 29-year-old father, was heard calling for his mother and seen struggling with his injuries as he sat helpless on the pavement, video footage released Friday showed.
The five officers chatted and milled about for several minutes as Nichols remained on the ground, but there were other authorities on the scene. Two Shelby County sheriff’s deputies have been relieved of duty without pay while their conduct is investigated.
In the Nichols case, the police department has been responsible for internal disciplinary measures, such as firings, while the Shelby County district attorney has handled the criminal charges.
Hemphill was the third officer at a traffic stop that preceded the violent arrest but was not at the scene where Nichols was beaten, his lawyer Lee Gerald said. Hemphill turned on his body camera, in line with department policy, he added.
Lawyers for the Nichols family questioned Monday why the department did not disclose Hemphill’s discipline earlier and why he has not been fired or charged.
“We have asked from the beginning that the Memphis Police Department be transparent with the family and the community — this news seems to indicate that they haven’t risen to the occasion,” attorneys Ben Crump and Anthony Romanucci said in a statement. “It certainly begs the question why the white officer involved in this brutal attack was shielded and protected from the public eye, and to date, from sufficient discipline and accountability.”
Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said information on disciplinary action taken against Hemphill was not immediately released because Hemphill was not fired. The department generally gives out information about an officer's punishment only after a department investigation into misconduct ends, Rudolph said.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ" Davis told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that a "lack of supervision in this incident was a major problem.”
“When officers are working, you should have at least one supervisor for every group or squad of people," Davis said. "Not just somebody who’s at the office doing the paperwork, somebody who’s actually embedded in that unit.”
Calls for more officers to be fired or charged have been loud and persistent from the Nichols family, their lawyers and community activists who have peacefully protested in Memphis since the video was released. The video was evocative of the arrest of George Floyd in 2020 and officers' failure to intervene.
On Saturday, Nichols' stepfather, Rodney Wells, told The Associated Press that the family was going to “continue to seek justice and get some more officers arrested.”
“Questions were raised before the video was released, I raised those questions,” Wells said. “I just felt there was more than five officers out there. Now, five were charged with murder because they were the main participants, but there were five or six other officers out there that didn’t do anything to render any aid. So they are just as culpable as the officers who threw the blows.”
Memphis City Council member Martavius Jones said Monday that police policies on rendering aid and de-escalation appeared to have been violated.
“When everybody saw the video, we see that you have multiple officers just standing around, when Mr. Nichols is in distress, that just paints a totally different picture,” Jones said
Jones said he believes more officers should be disciplined.
“At this point, what's going to be helpful for this community is to see how swiftly the police chief deals with those other officers now that everybody has seen the tape and knows that is wasn't only five officers who were at the scene the entire time,” Jones said.
The five fired officers and Hemphill were part of the so-called Scorpion unit, which targeted violent criminals in high-crime areas. Davis, the police chief, said Saturday that the unit has been disbanded.
Nichols' funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday at a Memphis church.
___
This story was first published on January 30, 2023. It was updated on February 2, 2023, to correct the spelling of the name of one of the fired workers to JaMichael Sandridge, not JaMicheal Sandridge.
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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) —
A Michigan judge on Friday refused to dismiss a second-degree murder charge against a former Grand Rapids police officer who was fired after shooting a Black motorist in the back of the head during a struggle over a Taser.
Christopher Schurr is scheduled for trial March 13 in the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya last April. Circuit Judge Christina Elmore rejected defense attorneys' motion to throw out the case.
Schurr’s lawyers argued he acted in self-defense and that Michigan law allows police officers to use deadly force to stop someone from fleeing and to make an arrest. Video recordings showed Schurr was straddling Lyoya's body as the Congolese refugee lay face down beneath him.
Prosecutors said the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding probable cause to proceed to trial. A judge at a preliminary hearing found sufficient evidence that a jury could conclude Schurr did not reasonably believe his life was immediately at risk.
Schurr was fired last June after spending months on paid leave. He spent one night in jail, then posted bond.
Attorneys for Lyoya’s family have filed a separate civil lawsuit against Schurr and the city of Grand Rapids.
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infowars
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I try to be clear you know?
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles police SWAT officer who was recorded on body-camera video telling his team “happy hunting” before a fatal police shooting last year has received a two-day suspension after an internal investigation, according to LAPD disciplinary records.
The records obtained by the Los Angeles Times identify the officer by his rank — police officer III — but don’t name him, due to state privacy laws.
The officer made the remark while preparing with other SWAT officers to surround an armed who had barricaded inside an apartment building. Police said the suspect fired down from a window and the officers returned fire, killing him.
Department officials have said that the remark was caught on the body camera of another officer and was discovered during a subsequent review of video from the incident.
The episode was seized on by department critics, who said it reflected a culture of brutality and callousness within SWAT, the Times said.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore at the time said he was disturbed by the “happy hunting” comment, but said the unit’s members have consistently shown restraint and skill while handling difficult and dangerous situations.
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Beyond the beating, kicking, cursing and pepper spraying, the video of Tyre Nichols’ deadly arrest at the hands of young Memphis police officers is just as notable for what's missing — any experienced supervisors showing up to stop them.
That points to a dangerous confluence of trends that Memphis’ police chief acknowledged have dogged the department as the city became one of the nation’s murder hotspots: a chronic shortage of officers, especially supervisors, increasing numbers of police quitting and a struggle to bring in qualified recruits.
Former Memphis police recruiters told The Associated Press of a growing desperation to fill hundreds of slots in recent years that drove the department to increase incentives and lower its standards.
“They would allow just pretty much anybody to be a police officer because they just want these numbers,” said Alvin Davis, a former lieutenant in charge of recruiting before he retired last year out of frustration. “They’re not ready for it."
The department offered new recruits $15,000 signing bonuses and $10,000 relocation allowances while phasing out requirements to have either college credits, military service or previous police work. All that's now required is two years' work experience — any work experience. The department also sought state waivers to hire applicants with criminal records. And the police academy even dropped timing requirements on physical fitness drills and removed running entirely because too many people were failing.
“I asked them what made you want to be the police and they’ll be honest — they'll tell you it’s strictly about the money,” Davis said, adding that many recruits would ask the minimum time they would actually have to serve to keep the bonus money. “It’s not a career for them like it was to us. It’s just a job.”
Another former patrol officer-turned-recruiter who recently left the department told the AP that in addition to drawing from other law enforcement agencies and college campuses, recruits were increasingly coming from jobs at the McDonald’s and Dunkin’ drive-thrus.
In one case, a stripper submitted an application. And even though she didn’t get hired, it reinforced the message that “anyone can get this job. You could have any type of experience and be the police.”
“There were red flags,” said the former recruiter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel and hiring. “But we’re so far down the pyramid nobody really hears the little person."
Many young officers, before ever walking a beat with more experienced colleagues, found themselves thrust into specialized units like the now-disbanded SCORPION high-crime strike force involved in Nichols’ arrest. Their lack of experience was shocking to veterans, who said some young officers who transfer back to patrol don’t even know how to write a traffic ticket or respond to a domestic call.
“They don’t know a felony from a misdemeanor,” Davis said. “They don’t even know right from wrong yet.”
Memphis police did not respond to requests for comment about their hiring standards.
Of the five SCORPION team officers now charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ Jan. 7 beating, two had only a couple of years on the force and none had more than six years’ experience.
One of the officers, Emmitt Martin III, 30, a former tight end on the Bethel University football team, appeared to have had at least one arrest, according to files from the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, a state oversight agency. But the date and details of the case were blacked out.
The section for arrests in the agency's file for another officer, Demetrius Haley, 30, who worked at a Shelby County Corrections facility before joining the force, was also redacted from the state records. Haley was sued for allegedly beating an inmate there, which he denied, and the case was dismissed because papers had not been properly served.
TYRE NICHOLS
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“If you lower standards, you can predict that you’re going to have problems because we’re recruiting from the human race,” said Ronal Serpas, the former head of the police in Nashville and New Orleans and the Washington State Patrol. “There’s such a small number of people who want to do this and an infinitesimally smaller number of people we actually want doing this.”
Memphis, in many ways, stands as a microcosm of the myriad crises facing American policing. Departments from Seattle to New Orleans are struggling to fill their ranks with qualified officers amid a national movement of mounting scrutiny and calls for reform in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
Boosting staffing was a major goal of Memphis police Director Cerelyn Davis when she took over in June 2021, with her department announcing it was aiming to increase staff from 2,100 to 2,500, close to the size of the force a decade ago. Instead, the police ranks have dropped to 1,939 officers — like the city, majority Black — even as the population has increased and the number of homicides topped 300 in each of the past two years.
A big part of the reason for the dwindling ranks is that more than 1,350 officers either resigned or retired over the past decade — more than 300 in the last two years alone.
In an interview with the AP last week, Davis said a lack of supervisors was a particular concern, noting that 125 new supervisor slots have been approved by the city but still not filled.
Davis said the department is investigating, among other things, why a supervisor failed to respond to Nichols’ arrest despite department policy that requires a ranking officer when pepper spray or a stun gun has been deployed.
“If that had happened somebody could have been there to intercept what happened,” Davis said.
“Culture eats policy for lunch in police departments,” she added. “If you don’t have the checks and balances you will have problems."
Michael Williams, former head of the Memphis Police Association, the officers' union, said strict supervision is essential, especially for the specialized teams like SCORPION.
“Why would you have an elite task force that you know is designed for aggressive policing and you don’t cover your bases? They may have to shoot someone. They may have to kick someone’s door down. They may have to physically restrain someone,” Williams said. “You should have experienced people around to restrain them and keep them from going down a dark path.”
Longtime observers of the Memphis police say this is not the first moment of reckoning for a department with a history of civil rights abuses.
After the 2015 death of Darrius Stewart, a 19-year-old Black man fatally shot by a white police officer, activists and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, called on the U.S. Justice Department to conduct a “pattern or practice” investigation of civil rights violations in the department. Such inquiries often result in sweeping reforms, including staffing and training overhauls.
Carlos Moore, an attorney for Stewart's family, warned the Justice Department at the time of a deadly trend that preceded Stewart's death. “There have been over 24 suspicious killings of civilians by officers of the Memphis Police Department since 2009," he wrote in a 2015 letter obtained by AP, “and not one officer has been indicted for killing unarmed, largely Black young men.”
The Justice Department decided not to open such an inquiry for reasons it didn't explain at the time, and it declined to comment this week.
“The Department of Justice missed a golden opportunity to properly investigate the Memphis Police Department,” Moore said in an interview. “It was just as corrupt then as it is now.”
Thaddeus Johnson, a former Memphis police officer who is now a criminal justice professor at Georgia State University, said the missed chance for federal intervention allowed the problems of the department — soaring crime, community distrust and chronic understaffing — to fester until they exploded.
“A deadly brew came together," he said. “But that same mixture is in many other places, too, where the bubble just hasn’t burst yet.”
___
Condon and Mustian reported from New York
___
Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Documents released Tuesday provided a scathing account of what authorities called the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop last month — including new revelations about how one officer took and shared pictures of the bloodied victim.
The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols as he lay critically injured from the beating and took photographs, which he sent to other officers and a female acquaintance, according to documents released by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission.
“Your on-duty conduct was unjustly, blatantly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sworn public servant,” the Memphis Police Department wrote in requesting that Haley and the other officers be decertified.
Haley's lawyer declined to comment, and lawyers for the other four officers either declined to comment or did not respond to requests from The Associated Press.
The five officers — Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — have all been fired and charged with second-degree murder. The new documents, signed by Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ" Davis, offer the most detailed account to date of each individual officer's actions during the incident. Davis signed each of the five requests to decertify the officers.
MEMPHIS
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13 Memphis officers could be disciplined in Nichols case
Amid soaring crime, Memphis cops lowered the bar for hiring
Another officer has also been fired and a seventh has been relieved of duty. As many as 13 Memphis officers could end up being disciplined in connection with the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, officials said Tuesday.
The newly released documents are part of a request by the Memphis Police Department that the five officers who have been charged with murder be decertified and prohibited from working in law enforcement again.
Haley, who was driving an unmarked car and wore a black sweatshirt hoodie over his head, forced Nichols from his car using loud profanity, then sprayed him directly in the eyes with a chemical irritant spray, according to the statement.
“You never told the driver the purpose of the vehicle stop or that he was under arrest,” it states.
Haley did not have his body camera on when he stopped Nichols but was on a phone call with someone who overheard the encounter.
Nichols ran from the officers but was apprehended again a few blocks away. At that point, Haley kicked him in the torso as three other officers were handcuffing him. Other officers kicked Nichols in the face, punched him or struck him with a baton. According to footage captured on a utility pole camera, one of the officers appears to quickly take a photo of Nichols on his phone at the 7:55 minute mark as flashlights are shined on him.
“You and other officers were captured on body worn camera making multiple unprofessional comments, laughing, bragging about your involvement,” the decertification charges against Mills said.
The decertification charges against Mills noted, “You admitted you did not provide immediate medical aid and walked away and decontaminated yourself from chemical irritant spray.”
Martin claimed Nichols tried to grab the officer’s gun from his holster after another officer forced him out of the vehicle, the police chief wrote. Audio from a body camera did not capture Nichols using profanity or making violent threats. Martin, meanwhile, used disparagingly profane language as he commanded Nichols to put his arm behind his back.
On a required form, Martin claimed Nichols grabbed his duty weapon before the officers took him to the ground. However, video evidence doesn’t corroborate that, the police chief wrote. Martin later told investigators that the details were correct. Martin also failed to disclose that he punched Nichols in the face and kicked him multiple times in the form, and instead added in his later statement to investigators that he gave “body blows.”
Police deemed the oral and written statements as deceitful, the chief wrote.
Nichols died three days after the beating.
——
Associated Press reporters Travis Loller and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed. Mattise reported from Nashville.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
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"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Years before Memphis Police officer Demetrius Haley pulled Tyre Nichols from his car on Jan. 7, setting in motion a deadly confrontation, Haley was accused of taking part in the savage beating of an inmate at a county prison.
The 2015 assault of the inmate was so disturbing that 34 others — the entire cellblock — signed a letter to the corrections director.
“We are truly asking that this matter gets looked into before someone gets hurt really bad or lose their life because of some unprofessional officers," the letter stated.
The warning from dozens of inmates at the Shelby County prison is the clearest indication yet that one of the five officers who took part in the violent beating of Nichols had an event in his past that should have raised concerns before he was hired as a police officer. Nichols died three days after the beating.
The letter asks how the inmates are supposed to feel “safe and secure when the staff members at the Shelby County Correctional Center are assaulting and threatening us?”
It concludes, “Please put a stop to this madness.”
Shelby County did not respond to a request Friday seeking information about its investigation into the beating allegations, so it is unclear if Haley was disciplined or cleared of the assault. An email was sent Friday to a police spokesperson asking if the department knew about the allegations when Haley was hired.
TYRE NICHOLS
Canopy at Memphis riverside park named after Tyre Nichols
Bill would make obstructing police, 'causing death' a felony
Officer drew gun as he approached Tyre Nichols, report finds
Tyre Nichols documents: Officer never explained stop to him
There is no national database of officers found guilty of misconduct who resign or are fired, meaning in a lot of cases they can apply for jobs in other police agencies and departments. There is a national database for officers who lose their certification — the equivalent of their professional license to be a police officer in a particular state. That wouldn't have made a difference in Haley's case because his job at the county prison didn't require police certification.
The former officer has been charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death, along with ex- officers Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith. All except Bean have infractions in their work records. Policy violations include using minor physical force during an arrest and failing to fill out a form about it; failing to report a domestic violence situation; and a car crash, records show.
The prior accusations against Haley came to light because the inmate, Cordarlrius Sledge, filed a federal lawsuit in 2016 against him and two others. It accused Haley and another officer of punching him, and a third of slamming his head into the floor. The suit was ultimately dismissed on procedural grounds, because Sledge had failed to file a grievance with the prison, which houses inmates in the Memphis area who have been tried and convicted.
Haley continued to work for the Division of Corrections until hired by Memphis Police in 2020, at a time when the department was lowering its standards for recruits in an attempt to fill vacancies. According to records in his personnel file, a previous application to the police department was rejected, but the reason for that rejection is blacked out.
A sixth officer who participated in Nichols’ arrest and beating, Preston Hemphill, has been fired but not criminally charged. He initially failed a physical after he was hired in 2019 and spent several months in a civilian position.
Van Turner, president of the NAACP’s Memphis branch, said Tyre Nichols’ death could have been prevented if the police department had not hired Haley.
“The culture of violence and bravado and the lack of empathy for individuals is not only here in our neighborhoods and communities, but unfortunately also in our jails and prison system,” said Turner, who is running for mayor.
Haley, Hemphill, and the four other officers were all eventually assigned to the Scorpion unit, an acronym for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods. The anti-crime task force that Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis started when she took over the department in June 2021 was designed to focus on repeat violent offenders, but has been accused of violent and illegal tactics.
Black residents of Memphis have described police sweeps in which unmarked cars roll into neighborhoods and armed plainclothes officers jump out, rushing traffic violators and issuing commands. The resulting fear has led people to text, call and use social media to caution each other to stay inside or avoid the area when police operations are underway.
Davis initially defended but later disbanded the Scorpion unit after Nichols’ death.
Haley has not spoken publicly about his role in Nichols' arrest and beating. He declined to make a statement at his disciplinary hearing, and his attorney has declined to comment. When a reporter from The Associated Press knocked on Haley’s door this week, no one answered.
Neighbors who live in single-family homes near Haley, in a quiet section of the Memphis suburb of Cordova, said he moved into the house about two years ago. Michael Cassie said he didn’t have many conversations with Haley, but the ones he did have were friendly. Haley mostly kept to himself and has not been seen around the neighborhood in recent weeks, said Cassie, a 74-year-old minister.
Asked about his reaction when he learned of Haley’s involvement with Nichols, Cassie said, “I was totally shocked that it was him.”
___
This story has been corrected to change all references from jail to prison.
___
Loller reported from Nashville. Associated Press news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York and AP reporter Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
___
For more of AP’s coverage on Tyre Nichols’ death: https://apnews.com/hub/tyre-nichols
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — One of three Memphis Police officers who initially detained Tyre Nichols last month has admitted he did not witness the alleged reckless driving that was the justification for pulling over Nichols but still approached his car while brandishing his gun, according to police documents seeking to bar him from working in law enforcement.
That Jan. 7 traffic stop quickly escalated into a beating, and Nichols died three days later.
Officer Preston Hemphill’s own body camera showed that from the very beginning of the traffic stop he and two other officers approached Nichols with force that was disproportionate for the alleged offense of reckless driving, according to a statement from the disciplinary hearing that took place before he was fired.
Hemphill was fired last week but has not been charged for his role in Nichols' beating and arrest, which has sparked widespread outrage and reignited a national discussion of police brutality against Black people. Five other officers, who are Black and were caught on video pummeling Nichols with their fists, feet and a baton, have been charged with murder and other offenses.
Hemphill did not take part in the second, more violent encounter, which took place after Nichols ran from police. But the documents highlight that he was heard on his body camera telling his partner: “I hope they stomp his ass!”
TYRE NICHOLS
1st officer in Nichols arrest accused of brutality at prison
Canopy at Memphis riverside park named after Tyre Nichols
Bill would make obstructing police, 'causing death' a felony
Tyre Nichols documents: Officer never explained stop to him
The information about Hemphill’s actions is contained in supporting documents attached to a Wednesday request from Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis to strip Hemphill, who is white, of his police certification so that he could not work in law enforcement again. Hemphill’s lawyer did not immediately comment Thursday because he had not fully read the documents.
The documents help create a fuller picture of the initial encounter with the 29-year-old Nichols that involved Hemphill, Demetrius Haley and Emmitt Martin III. Haley and Martin were fired last month and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols' death along with Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith.
The police chief has said she saw no justification in video of the incident for pulling Nichols over in the first place.
Meanwhile, the office of the top prosecutor in Memphis said in a statement Thursday that it will review all previous cases, “closed and pending,” of the five officers charged in the Nichols investigation. It was not immediately clear how many cases the review by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office will involve, but there is at least a chance that some cases could be re-opened if problems emerge.
The new documents state that Nichols was not given the opportunity to step out of the car before being forced out by Haley. Martin then grabbed one of Nichols’ wrists and claimed that Nichols tried to grab his gun. That claim was later repeated by Hemphill and Haley but was contradicted by the video evidence.
Once they had Nichols out of his car, the officers took him to the ground while yelling profanity at him. Hemphill threatened to use a stun gun on Nichols, while placing the gun against Nichols’ leg. Martin threatened to break one of his arms. Haley sprayed Nichols in the eyes with pepper spray while he was on the ground.
Nichols, by contrast, was “not using profanity” or showing any “signs of violence,” according to the documents. When Nichols managed to get free and started running away, Hemphill deployed his stun gun, even though police policy forbids the use of a stun gun against a subject who is running away or as a means of gaining compliance with someone who is not violent.
The hearing officer also faulted Hemphill for deploying his stun gun while Nichols was in the middle of the street. “You put everyone involved at risk of serious bodily injuries due to oncoming traffic,” the statement reads.
Within a few minutes, Bean, Mills and Smith caught Nichols a few blocks away and began beating him. They were joined by Haley and Martin, while Hemphill remained with the vehicle.
In all, 13 officers have either been disciplined or are under investigation for their roles in Nichols' death. Two Shelby County sheriff's deputies were also suspended, and three emergency medical technicians with the Memphis Fire Department have been fired.
___
Loller reported from Nashville.
___
For more of AP’s coverage on Tyre Nichols’ death: https://apnews.com/hub/tyre-nichols
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
1st carnival in brazil since covid coupled with Bolsonaro being ousted.....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Peru not Brazil..
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/us/missouri-sheriff-father-kidnapping-charges-iron-county/index.html
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/06/06/the-la-county-sheriffs-deputy-gang-crisis
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©