Current:Home > FinanceEx-Memphis police supervisor says there was ‘no need’ for officers to beat Tyre Nichols -EverVision Finance
Ex-Memphis police supervisor says there was ‘no need’ for officers to beat Tyre Nichols
View
Date:2025-04-16 07:16:24
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — There was “no need” for five Memphis police officers to punch, kick, and hit Tyre Nichols with a baton on the night he was fatally beaten after a traffic stop, their former supervisor testified Thursday in the federal trial for three of the officers.
Dewayne Smith told the court he was a Memphis police lieutenant who supervised the Scorpion Unit One, which included Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith. He testified that the officers did not tell him that they had beaten Nichols when he spoke to them at the scene after it happened.
Dewayne Smith said he went to Nichols’ home nearby to determine if Nichols used drugs, after officers told him, without evidence, that Nichols was high when they pulled him out of his car.
The former supervisor said he also speculated that Nichols could have been on a hallucinogen or PCP and in a state of “excited delirium” — a controversial diagnosis sometimes used to justify excessive force — because he overpowered larger officers who hit him with pepper spray.
Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating. An autopsy report shows Nichols — the father of a boy who is now 7 — died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and elsewhere on his body. According to the autopsy, only low amounts of ethanol — or drinking alcohol — and tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, were detected in Nichols’ system. THC is found in marijuana.
Dewayne Smith watched video of the beating with jurors, who have seen it several times during more than a week of testimony. Asked if the beating was consistent with his expectations of his officers, Smith told Prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert, “That wasn’t called for.”
Smith became the officers’ supervisor in late 2022, he said. He was allowed to retire in March 2023 “in lieu of termination,” he said.
Prosecutors have said Memphis police would punish people with force for running away from them, a practice known as a “run tax” or a “street tax.” Under cross examination, Smith told Michael Stengel, Haley’s defense lawyer, that he never had complaints of his team using the practice.
Haley, Bean and Justin Smith pleaded not guilty to federal charges of excessive force, failure to intervene, and obstructing justice through witness tampering.
The Memphis Police Department fired the three, along with Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., after Nichols’ death. The officers were later indicted on the federal charges. Martin and Mills have taken plea deals.
All five were members of the Scorpion Unit, which looked for drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders. The unit was disbanded after Nichols’ death.
The Associated Press analyzed what the officers claimed happened on the night of the beating compared to video of the incident. The AP sifted through hundreds of pages of evidence and hours of video from the scene, including officer body cameras.
The five officers also have been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Ashley Graham Celebrates Full Circle Moment Hosting HGTV's Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge
- Fears of crypto contagion are growing as another company's finances wobble
- California drivers can now sport digital license plates on their cars
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- How Twitter became one of the world's preferred platforms for sharing ideas
- You’ll Get Happy Endorphins Seeing This Legally Blonde Easter Egg in Gilmore Girls
- It's the end of the boom times in tech, as layoffs keep mounting
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- Below Deck's Ben Willoughby Shares Surprising Update About His Boatmance With Camille Lamb
Ranking
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- These are the words, movies and people that Americans searched for on Google in 2022
- Son of El Chapo and Sinaloa cartel members hit with U.S. sanctions over fentanyl trafficking
- The fastest ever laundry-folding robot is here. And it's likely still slower than you
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- 'The Callisto Protocol' Review: Guts, Death, and Robots
- 1000-Lb. Sisters’ Amy Slaton and Husband Michael Halterman Break Up After 4 Years of Marriage
- Ulta 24-Hour Flash Sale: Take 50% Off Alicia Keys' Keys Soulcare, First Aid Beauty, Urban Decay, and More
Recommendation
Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
Transcript: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Face the Nation, May 7, 2023
More than 1,000 trafficking victims rescued in separate operations in Southeast Asia
Get Sweat-Proof Makeup That Lasts All Day and Save 52% on These Tarte Top-Sellers
Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
Find a new job in 60 days: tech layoffs put immigrant workers on a ticking clock
Why Gaten Matarazzo Has a Deep Fear Ahead of Stranger Things' Final Season
Russia blames Ukraine for car bombing that injured pro-Putin novelist Zakhar Prilepin, killed driver