Three former officers charged in the beating death of Tyre Nichols did not comply with Memphis Police Department training policies when they punched, kicked and hit the 29-year-old motorist after a January 2023 traffic stop, a police lieutenant testified Thursday.
Lt. Larnce Wright offered the testimony during the federal trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, which began Monday.
Also Thursday, jurors for the first time watched footage of Nichols being beaten from a police pole camera and body worn cameras. Wright trained the three men and their two former colleagues, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., who already have pleaded guilty to civil rights violations in the case.
RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, left the courtroom when the violent, expletive-filled video was shown. She has said she has not watched any of the videos of the attack since they were publicly released last year.
The officers can be heard on body camera footage repeatedly giving Nichols orders such as “give me your hands” and “lay down,” while issuing threats such as, “I’m going to baton the f--- out of you.” Nichols was on the ground, with officers holding his arms, for much of the video.
Prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert repeatedly asked Wright if the officers were complying with departmental policies and training during the beating.
“No ma’am,” Wright said, adding that other officers “should have intervened” to stop the beating. Wright said an officer has a duty to physically intervene or call a supervisor to the scene if the officer sees another officer using more force than necessary.
The lieutenant said the officers should have used armbars, wrist locks and other soft hands tactics to handcuff Nichols, rather than punching and kicking him and hitting him with a baton.
“That wasn’t necessary if the goal is to get him in handcuffs,” Wright said.
Wright also noted that the officers kept ordering Nichols to give them his hands, when they already had them, and kept hitting him when Nichols was not a threat.
“I don’t understand the command, ‘give me your hands,’ when they already had his hands,” Wright said.
Wright said officers are trained to use only use force necessary to safely bring a person into custody, and to only match the force used by that person. Wright said police cannot use force as punishment.
A prosecutor said Wednesday that the officers were punishing Nichols for fleeing a traffic stop and that they just stood around during “crucial” minutes when Nichols' heart stopped, when they could have helped him.
Bean, Haley and Smith have pleaded not guilty to charges that they deprived the Nichols of his rights through excessive force and failure to intervene, and obstructed justice through witness tampering. Martin and Mills, who pleaded guilty, are expected to testify for prosecutors.
Nichols, who was Black, died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating. Police video shows the five officers charged, who also are Black, beating Nichols as he yells for his mother about a block from her home. Video also shows the officers milling about and talking as Nichols struggles with his injuries.
Rachael Love, a nurse practitioner, testified Wednesday that Nichols had no pulse for 25 minutes until it was restored at the hospital.
An autopsy report shows Nichols died from blows to the head and that the manner of death was homicide. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and other areas.
All five officers belonged to the now disbanded Scorpion Unit crime suppression team and were fired for violating Memphis Police Department policies.
They were also charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty, although Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set.
Wells told reporters Wednesday that she hope for three guilty verdicts and for the world to know her son “wasn’t the criminal that they’re trying to make him out to be.”
Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.
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