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By The Vanguard Staff
MEMPHIS, TN – Five former Memphis Police detectives were indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury for civil rights, conspiracy and obstruction offenses in the death of Tyre Nichols last Jan. 7, according to a statement by the Dept. of Justice.
DOJ said Counts One and Two of the indictment carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. Counts Three and Four have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
All five accused, Emmitt Martin, III, 31; Tadarrius Bean, 24; Demetrius Haley, 30; Desmond Mills, Jr., 33; and Justin Smith, 28, while serving as members of an MPD SCORPION team, “willfully deprived Nichols of his constitutional rights,” according to the four-count indictment.
The indictment alleges the accused “aided and abetted by one another, violated Nichols’ right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer by assaulting him and by failing to intervene in the unlawful assault.”
The indictment also claims the accused “violated Nichols’ right to be free from a law enforcement officer’s deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs,” charging even though the officers knew Nichols “had a serious medical need” they “willfully disregarded that medical need by failing to render medical aid and by failing to advise the MPD dispatcher and emergency medical personnel of the circumstances surrounding Nichols’ serious medical need.”
All five accused, the indictment states, “conspired to cover up their use of unlawful force by omitting material information and by providing false and misleading information to their supervisor and to others,” and “failing to tell MPD and Memphis Fire Department personnel that the defendants had struck Nichols and that the defendants had discussed hitting Nichols with straight haymakers and taking turns hitting him.”
The accused, the indictment alleges, “provided false and misleading information to two MPD officers tasked with writing reports about Nichols’ arrest,” and “submitted Response to Resistance Reports that contained false and misleading information and omitted that the defendants had assaulted Nichols.”
Count Four of the indictment alleges the accused officers “committed an obstruction offense by intentionally omitting material information, and providing false and misleading information, to two MPD officers tasked with writing MPD reports about the arrest of Nichols.”
“The country watched in horror as Tyre Nichols was kicked, punched, tased, and pepper sprayed, and we all heard Mr. Nichols cry out for his mother and say, ‘I’m just trying to go home,’” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
“Officers who violate the civil rights of those they are sworn to protect undermine public safety, which depends on the community’s trust in law enforcement. They dishonor their fellow officers who do their work with integrity every day. The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable officers who betray their oath,” added the AG.
“When I announced this investigation back in January, I said I wanted this city to be a place where justice is done,” said U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee. “This indictment alleging civil rights violations is an important step in ensuring that justice is done for Tyre Nichols.”
“Tyre Nichols should be alive today,” argued Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, adding, “It is tragic to see a life cut short at 29, with so many milestones unmet, so many words unsaid, so much potential unfulfilled.
The DOJ said the charges are separate from the Justice Department’s civil pattern or practice investigation into the MPD, that the charges against the officers are criminal while the MPD probe is a civil investigation.
The state of Tennessee is also charging the officers under state law.
