Nichols, 29, died on January 7 following a traffic stop near his home.
Washington:
Memphis police said Monday a seventh officer has been suspended in connection with the fatal beating of Tyra Nichols, a young black man whose death shocked the United States and five officers were fired and charged with murder. Planted.
The city’s fire department also said it exhausted three firefighters who arrived at the scene, but failed to provide adequate medical assistance to Nichols.
“The Memphis Police Department launched an administrative investigation on the officers involved in the death of Tyra Nichols on January 7, 2023. Seven officers, including Officer Preston Hemphill, were relieved of duty on January 8,” the Memphis Police Department said in a statement.
Hemphill, who joined the force in 2018 and is white, has been suspended “pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation,” police spokeswoman Kim Elder said in a separate statement.
The Memphis Fire Department issued a statement that three of its firefighters, who responded to the police call, had also been dismissed because they “failed to conduct an adequate patient evaluation” of Nichols at the scene of the attack.
Memphis is continuing its investigation into the death of 29-year-old Nichols following a traffic stop near his home on Jan. 7.
Graphic video footage of the incident shows five officers, all of whom are black, repeatedly kicking and punching Nichols as he moans and calls out for his mother.
Nichols died in hospital three days later. His funeral is to be held in Memphis on Wednesday.
Last week, five former officers were charged with second-degree murder in connection with the beating.
According to a statement by Nichols’ family attorneys, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, Hemphill used a Taser against Nichols at the beginning of the confrontation.
But Hemphill’s attorney told The Washington Post that he was not with other people at the scene of the beating.
A statement from Nicholls’ family said it was “extremely disappointing” that Hemphill was not fired and charged in the matter.
“This certainly begs the question of why the white officer involved in this brutal attack has been shielded from the public eye and, to date, from substantial discipline and accountability,” he said.
“The Memphis Police Department gives us all the answers.”
On Saturday, Memphis police disbanded the special unit called the Scorpions, which consisted of officers.
The Scorpions were established in 2021 as a strike team to focus on high-crime areas of the southern city.
“It was in everyone’s best interest to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit,” the Memphis Police Department said in a statement.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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