The Memphis Police Department announced on Monday it has suspended a sixth officer in connection with the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, The New York Times reports.
According to a department spokesman, Preston Hemphill was placed on administrative leave at the same time five other officers were suspended (the five were later fired). It’s unclear what Hemphill’s involvement was in the fatal traffic stop. Two firefighters and two sheriff’s deputies that were on the scene have also been “relieved of duty” pending internal investigations.
“Officer Hemphill is relieved of duty. This is an ongoing investigation,” a department spokesperson told NBC News, adding that Hemphill was hired in 2018.
On Jan. 7 during a traffic stop, Memphis police officers kicked Tyre Nichols in the head, hit him with a baton, doused him with pepper spray, and beat him while he cried out for his mother, leading to his death on Jan. 10.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith were fired earlier this month for their actions, which were deemed “excessive” in nature. Last week, all five were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, and official misconduct and oppression for their alleged roles in the death of Nichols.
Officer Hemphill’s lawyer, Lee Gerald, said in a statement via The Times that one of the four tapes released on Friday, known as Video One, came from Hemphill’s body camera.
“He was never present at the second scene” — where Nichols fled and when police caught up to him and continued to severely beat him — Gerald said of Hemphill. He added that his client “is cooperating with officials in this investigation.”
A Times analysis of the video footage from Jan. 7 found that officers ordered Nichols to obey at least 71 commands. The officers’ contradictory demands made it impossible for Nichols to abide: from asking him to show his hands even while they were restraining him, to get on the ground even though he was already on the ground, to telling him to reposition himself, even when he did not have the ability to do so because they had control of his movements.
In the wake of 29-year-old skateboarder and father Nichol’s death, The Scorpion Unit, of which the five officers who have been charged were members, has been disbanded. Rallies were held around the U.S. over the weekend, while the community and family call for sweeping police reform.