Preston Hemphill, former officer involved in Tyre Nichols case, will not face criminal charges
Authorities will not bring criminal charges against one of several former Memphis police officers involved in the traffic stop that preceded Tyre Nichols' violent and ultimately fatal arrest, the Shelby County District Attorney announced on Tuesday.
Preston Hemphill was the sixth officer fired from the Memphis Police Department in the wake of Nichols' death in early January. His firing came after an internal investigation found that Hemphill, who tased Nichols but was not involved in the beating during his arrest, violated a number of departmental policies.
But his actions did not warrant criminal charges, said District Attorney Steve Mulroy at a news conference on Tuesday, although the district attorney noted that he personally could not support Hemphill's behavior.
"Justice doesn't mean a witch hunt. Justice doesn't mean we charge every single person," said prosecutor Paul Hagerman, who also appeared at the news conference on Tuesday. Hemphill is expected to testify during an upcoming trial, according to Mulroy.
"By no means do we endorse the conduct of officer Hemphill at that first traffic stop. I note that the Memphis Police Department did in fact take administrative action against Mr. Hemphill," the district attorney said. "But we do not believe that criminal charges are appropriate."
The department initially fired five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — less than two weeks after body camera and surveillance footage showed them participating in the brutal beating that led to Nichols' hospitalization after a traffic stop on the night of Jan. 7. They belonged to the police department's notorious SCORPION unit, which was disbanded.
At the time, Memphis Police Director C.J. Davis said investigators had determined that those five officers were "directly responsible for the physical abuse of Mr. Nichols." Each now faces criminal charges for their roles in his death, including second-degree murder and aggravated assault. All five have pleaded not guilty.
Hemphill was fired from the Memphis Police Department on Feb. 3 for violating "numerous" policies related to conduct and regulatory compliance, the department said. Memphis chief legal officer Jennifer Sink revealed in early March that a seventh officer, whose name was not released, had been relieved of duty in the immediate aftermath of Nichols' arrest. Three members of the Memphis Fire Department, who responded to the scene, were also fired and another was suspended.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man and father to a 4-year-old boy, had moved to Memphis from California and worked as a FedEx employee while keeping up with passions like skateboarding and photography, his friends and family members have said. While driving home on Jan. 7 from a suburban park in Memphis, where, his family's attorneys said, he took photographs of the sunset, officers pulled Nichols over for what they initially categorized as a traffic violation for reckless driving.
After officers forced Nichols out of his vehicle and tried to arrest him violently, Nichols fled the scene, at which point officers chased him to an intersection and eventually pinned him to the ground and beat him. The beating was seen in disturbing video footage released at the end of January. Memphis Police Director Davis said later that investigators "have not been able to substantiate" that original report of reckless driving.