6th Memphis Police Officer Suspended in Tyre
Nichols Death
It was not immediately clear what role the officer,
Preston Hemphill, had played in the incident that led to murder charges against
five fellow officers fired from the police force.
By Jessica
Jaglois
Jan. 30,
2023
Updated
12:33 p.m. ET
MEMPHIS —
The Memphis Police Department confirmed on Monday that a sixth officer had been
taken off duty in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols.
Five
officers were fired by the department earlier this month, soon after being
placed on leave, and charged last week with second-degree murder in connection
with Mr. Nichols’s death. The sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, has been placed
on administrative leave; it is not clear exactly what role he played in the encounter.
A spokesman
for the department confirmed on Monday that Mr. Hemphill was placed on leave on
the same day that the other officers were suspended.
Police
officers kicked Mr. Nichols in the head, pepper-sprayed him and hit him
repeatedly with a baton after pulling him over, allegedly for reckless driving,
on the night of Jan. 7, even as he showed no signs of fighting back on the
videos of the incident released on Friday. Mr. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black
man, died in a hospital three days after the encounter.
Officer
Hemphill’s lawyer, Lee Gerald, said in a statement that one of the four videos
of the encounter that were released by the city on Friday, labeled Video 1,
came from Officer Hemphill’s body camera.
“He was
never present at the second scene,” where officers caught up with Mr. Nichols
after a brief foot chase, Mr. Gerald said of Officer Hemphill. He added that
his client “is cooperating with officials in this investigation.”
This is a
developing story. Check back for updates.
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