Former Memphis officers were frustrated when they defeated tires, says public prosecutor

Memphis, tenn. (AP)-Drei former police officers of Memphis were frustrated, angry and full of adrenaline when they defeated tires Nichols, after running away from a traffic stop in 2023, a public prosecutor announced on Monday at the opening of arguments in their second degree.

The public prosecutor Paul Hagerman showed the jury video of the strokes in the trial against Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have not guilty. The three have already looked after the prospect of years behind bars after they were condemned for federal costs last year.

A Police compartment camera recorded the blows Only a few steps from home, in the Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, lived with his mother and stepfather. This film material led to national protests, increased the volume to demands for police reforms in the United States and directed an intensive test by the police in Memphis, a majority of black city.

Police video showed the officer Pepper spraying Nichols and beat him with a taser before running away on January 7, 2023 before the traffic stops. The video showed how the officers stuck around, talked and laughed when Nichols fought.

Hagerman said Nichols was captured by his arms by two of the officers when he hit and stepped and was beaten with a police cat. After the blows, when a seriously injured Nichols sat on the ground, the officials could not tell the medical staff that Nichols had been hit in the head, said the prosecutor.

Hagerman said that the officers had helped each other not to go to death. A Autopsy showed itself Nichols died three days after the beating of a blunt force trauma.

He said the officers had the obligation to stop the blows, but none of them did so. They were “overwhelmed at the moment,” said the prosecutor.

“Nobody will call them monsters,” said Hagerman. “It doesn't need a monster to kill a man.”

In his opening declaration, Beans said that the official answered a call that the police had been looking for a man who had fled out of a traffic interruption and was beaten with pepper spray and with a taser. Bean, who was not at the first station, saw Nichols, switched on his body camera and chased him down, said lawyer John Keith Perry.

Perry said that the situation had become a “high risk” when Nichols drove about 3.2 km (approx. 3.2 km) after one of the officers switched on the blue lights of his vehicle to stop Nichols to overcome speed. Nichols then followed the order to give the officials his hands so that he could be tied up with handcuffs, said Perry.

“He actually opposed the arrest all the time,” said Perry, adding that the officials only “wanted to make their work effectively”.

The jury for the state trial was selected in Hamilton County, which also includes chattanooga after judge James Jones Jr. had belonged to the case of people outside of Shelby County, which also includes Memphis. The officials of the officials had argued that intensive advertising made a fair jury difficult.

The officials are charged with the second degree murder, severe bodily harm, severe kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

Two other officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mill, were also charged, but will not be on trial with their former colleagues. Martin and Mills are expected to change their non -guilty requests to the state court, according to the lawyers involved in the case. Sentences For all five civil servants in the federal case, the state process is expected.

After the death of Nichols, five officers were released, charged with the state court and charged with a Federal Grand Jury for civil rights and testimony of manipulating charges.

Martin and Mills are guilty of federal members as part of the public prosecutor. The other three officers were convicted In October of witness manipulations in connection with the cover -up of the blows. Bean and Smith have been acquitted from allegations of civil rights

Haley was acquitted

In December the US Ministry of Justice said A 17-month examination The Memphis police authority starts excessive violence and discriminates against black people.

The department is more than 50% black and chief of police Cerelyn “CJ” Davis is black.

The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called Scorpion Unit, which has been dissolved since then. The team aimed against drugs, illegal weapons and violent criminals with the aim of collecting arrests, while violence was sometimes used against unarmed people.