Nearly a year ago, five Black former Memphis police officers were indicted in federal court after a traffic stop in January 2023 that resulted in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols. The FedEx worker cried out for his mother as the officers repeatedly kicked, used a baton and Tasers, and pepper sprayed him. He was hospitalized for three days before he died from his injuries.
This week, jury selection began for three of those officers.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith have pleaded not guilty to charges of deprivation of rights under color of law using excessive force, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to witness tampering, and failure to intervene. If convicted for the deprivation charge, they face life in federal prison. The remaining three charges carry a maximum of 20 years each.
Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and deprivation of rights under color of law using excessive force, and may testify as cooperating witnesses against their former colleagues, according to court documents. Martin faces up to 40 years, and Mills faces up to 15.
The deadly beating became a stark reminder that having more Black police officers doesn’t necessarily stop police brutality. All the officers involved are Black and are now ages 25 to 33.
The brutal encounter, captured from multiple angles on body cameras and security footage, squashed any lingering notions that diversity is the answer to America’s age-old problem with police violence. After Michael Brown was killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2015, there was a flood of conversation about diversifying police forces in majority-Black communities. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020, the conversation shifted to leadership as Black police officers were hired and promoted to chiefs.
But during that time, there’s been little change in the rate of police fatalities. By the end of 2023, 320 Black people were killed by police — the highest number in a five-year period, according to the Mapping Police Violence database. So far this year, 224 Black people have been killed by police.
“Just because they are Black … that’s not enough,” Dwonna Goldstone, a history professor and director of African American Studies at Texas State University, told Capital B last year. “The system has to be changed, and until they’re willing to change how they police — and especially police communities of color — we’ll have this conversation again.”
Read More: The ‘Black Cop’ Isn’t Enough Reform to End Police Brutality
Decarcerate Memphis, a coalition of community leaders, released a report earlier this year that revealed something they already knew — Black motorists in their city are targeted for pretextual traffic stops. The group used data provided by the Memphis Police Department.
The report explored those stops nine months after Nichols was beaten to death by the former officers. It revealed, in part, that Black residents made up 91% of people accused of a crime in cases stemming from pretextual traffic stops and “Black drivers are 2.5 times as likely as white drivers to receive multiple citations on one ticket.”
The footage that’s hard to watch
Weeks after Nichols’ death, the officers were fired and indicted on state murder charges. While Capital B last year encouraged readers not to watch, several TV news outlets promoted the release of the footage and televised it during their prime-time lineup. Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, told Action News 5 this week that she refuses to watch her son’s last moments till this day.
“I don’t want to see the video or anything, I just want to remember my son when he walked out that door, the way he walked out the door,” Wells told the station of her last memory of her son.
Nichols’ death sparked protests, while the public, lawmakers, and President Joe Biden reacted as they did following George Floyd’s murder: with renewed calls to “do something” about police reform.
Nichols was pulled over on Jan. 7, 2023, for alleged reckless driving. A physical altercation ensued, and the 29-year-old man attempted to run away from the officers. Nichols was not far from his mother’s house when he was pulled over. He ran in that direction until the officers caught up to him.
Mills admitted that he “repeatedly and unjustifiably” used a baton to beat Nichols, did not intervene to stop the other officers from the beating, and did not provide medical aid, according to a U.S. Justice Department press release. He also admitted to making false statements in connection to Nichols’ arrest, and submitted a report that “provided a false account of the force used on Nichols, including a claim that Mills saw Nichols ‘aggressively resisting’ officers.”
The Justice Department launched a civil pattern or practice investigation into the Memphis Police Department.
The Memphis City Council passed the Driving Equality Act in honor of Nichols in April 2023, but the city’s former mayor refused to sign the ordinance during the last months of his term. The city’s new mayor said that he would, and it was signed into law in March.
On Monday, potential jurors in the federal trial of the three former were asked whether heavy media coverage and publicly released video of the beating could influence their ability to be fair, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. District Judge Mark Norris questioned jury candidates about what they think are the most important characteristics a juror should have and whether they would be biased in reaching a verdict.
Following the federal trial, all five officers will face state charges, including second-degree murder and aggravated assault, unauthorized exercise of power, and official misconduct. They have pleaded not guilty. A date for the state trial has not been set yet.
