NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A state commission that enforces standards for police voted Friday to temporarily suspend a former officer from serving in law enforcement in Tennessee while a federal investigation proceeds into the death of Tyre Nichols.
The vote in Preston Hemphill’s case in front of the Tennessee Police Officer Standards and Training Commission delays the final decision over whether the fired Memphis officer will face a permanent ban on working in law enforcement in the state.
The district attorney decided not to charge Hemphill with a crime for his interactions with Nichols in January. Hemphill hit Nichols with a stun gun at an initial traffic stop. But he did not run after the fleeing man to a second scene where other officers brutally beat Nichols.
During a hearing Thursday, officials with the state board and Memphis police said they don’t know whether Hemphill is a target of the federal investigation.
Five other former officers face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault and other offenses in Nichols’ death. They have pleaded not guilty and their cases are being handled in Shelby County Criminal Court.
Hemphill attended a brief hearing Thursday in his decertification case in front of the commission, but spoke only to introduce himself.
Nichols was pulled out of his car during a Jan. 7 traffic stop and tried to run away from officers before he was punched, kicked and hit with a baton just feet from his Memphis home, according to police video released by the city. The officers said Nichols was stopped for reckless driving, but no proof of that accusation has emerged in video or police documents.
Nichols, 29, died three days later in a hospital. An autopsy report showed he died from blows to the head.
Nichols was Black. All five officers charged also are Black. They have been fired by the Memphis Police Department. Hemphill is white.
The department asked the state commission to bar six other officers from working as police in the state - including the five officers facing charges. The commission already has decertified Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith and approved the decision by Desmond Mills to surrender his certification. Haley, Martin and Smith have appealed, said Kevin Walters, a spokesperson for the commission. Tadarrius Bean’s decertification was put on a suspended status while the criminal cases play out.
One other former Memphis officer is awaiting action from the commission over whether he should be barred from from working in Tennessee law enforcement - Dewayne Smith, the supervising lieutenant who arrived on scene after the beating, who retired instead of being fired. Smith has not been charged with a crime.
A seventh police employee who was fired has not been publicly named.
Attorneys for Nichols’ family have said that they are supportive of the decision not to pursue charges because of Hemphill’s cooperation. Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy has said Hemphill has cooperated fully with the investigation into Nichols’ death.
Hemphill was not present for the initial traffic stop nor when other officers forcibly removed Nichols, 29, from his vehicle and put him on the ground, Mulroy has said.
Hemphill’s body camera showed that from the very beginning of the traffic stop he and two other officers approached Nichols with force that was disproportionate for the alleged offense of reckless driving, according to a statement from the disciplinary hearing that took place before he was fired.
Along with breaking rules regarding the use of a stun gun, Hemphill was also fired for violations of personal conduct and truthfulness, police have said. The truthfulness violation was regarding conflicting statements he made about whether or not Nichols had tried to grab another officer’s gun, police documents show.
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