5 Memphis Cops Fired and a DOJ Investigation Over Tyre Nichols Death. But Police Fail to Explain How Black Man's Face Got Disfigured and Keep the Public's Video Secret while Cops Get Stories Straight

From [HERE] Five Memphis Police officers involved in the traffic stop that preceded the hospitalization and subsequent death of a 29-year-old man were fired Friday evening.

The police department said in a statement that the officers, who had been on the force between two and a half and five years, violated multiple department policies, including those on use of force, failure to render aid and their duty to intervene. Tyre D. Nichols of Memphis died three days after the traffic stop.

Officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith were all fired Friday evening. They had been with the department since Aug. 2020, Aug. 2020, March 2018, March 2017, and March 2018, respectively.

"Earlier today, each officer charged was terminated from the Memphis Police Department," a written statement from Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis said. "The egregious nature of this incident is not a reflection of the good work that our officers perform with integrity, every day."

The charges mentioned by Davis are internal, department charges, not criminal ones.

The Department of Justice and FBI on Wednesday announced a civil rights inquiry into a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, that preceded the death of a Black man.

Tyre Nichols, 29, died three days after being taken to a hospital in critical condition following the Jan. 7 stop. The Memphis Police Department said the case was referred to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation the next day, and an internal investigation was opened into the incident.

The U.S. Attorney's Office of the Western District of Tennessee announced Wednesday that the FBI's Memphis field office and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice have also begun looking into the Nichols' death.

Nichols' family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump and have demanded the public release of body camera and any other surveillance footage from the stop.

"Nobody should ever die from a simple traffic stop — the footage is the only way to discern the true narrative of why and how that happened to Tyre,” Crump said in a statement Monday.

Nichols died Jan. 10, three days after he was pulled over in a traffic stop.

According to a statement from the Memphis Police Department, officers pulled Nichols over around 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 and a "confrontation" ensued. Apparently he was pulled over for reckless driving. However, the police have described how his driving was reckless. Nichols eventually ran away, but was later arrested. Officers said another "confrontation" happened at that point, but he had already been detained.

It was after this that police say Nichols "complained of a shortness of breath," and was taken to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition. Relatives of Nichols claimed the officers involved were in an unmarked vehicle and that he experienced cardiac arrest and kidney failure because of officers beating him. A cause of death has not been released

An image of Nichols shared with the public shortly after his death showed an intubated Nichols. His face was disfigured from a combination of significant welts. His nose was nearly bent into an “s” shape. Blood was seen on his intubation tube and on his hospital sheets. [MORE]

Memphis officials, including police Chief C.J. Davis and Mayor Jim Strickland, said Tuesday the footage would be released after the conclusion of the internal investigation. The police department said it anticipates that happening by the end of the week.