Memphis police officers who beat Tyre Nichols to death wanted to punish him after he ran from a 2023 traffic stop and thought they could get away with it, a prosecutor said Wednesday as closing arguments began in the federal trial of three of the officers.
“They wanted it to be a beatdown. That's what it was,” prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert told jurors in the federal trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who are accused of violating Nichols' civil rights and of trying to cover up the beating.
Prosecutors have argued the beating reflected a common police practice known in officer slang as the “street tax” or “run tax.”
Gilbert noted that Emmitt Martin, one of two officers to take a plea deal, testified that Nichols was not a threat when police beat him. She showed the jury a photo of a smiling Nichols wearing a vest, a tie, a white shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and hands in his pockets.
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She said the officers laughed and bragged about hitting Nichols, then lied to their supervisor and medical personnel to protect themselves.
“They chose their own comfort and convenience over Mr. Nichols’ life,” she said.
Haley's lawyer, Stephen Leffler, said his client only kicked Nichols once on the arm to help get him handcuffed. He also blamed Martin for falsely suggesting Nichols tried to grab Martin’s weapon at the traffic stop.
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“He was affected by that to his detriment, and the detriment of Tyre Nichols,” Leffler said.
Bean's attorney, John Keith Perry, told jurors that Nichols ignored commands such as “give me your hands" and said his client, the youngest of the officers, followed department policies. Perry said Bean did not know whether Nichols had a weapon but still ran after him and tackled him.
“The force was not excessive,” Perry said. “It just wasn’t.”
Bean only hit Nichols in his hands to try to cuff him, Perry said, despite statements made by an FBI agent who testified Bean told him he punched Nichols in the head. Perry noted that the agent’s interview with Bean was not recorded and he questioned the truthfulness of his statements.
Martin Zummach, Smith’s lawyer, said Smith was blinded by pepper spray and did not see Martin and Haley kick Nichols. He only learned about the kicks after an internal affairs interview days after Nichols died. Smith called his supervisor to report that he had learned about the kicks, according to Zummach. Smith also had previously reported that an officer, who no longer works for Memphis police, had hit a handcuffed teenager, Zummach added.
“He does not cover up excessive force,” Zummach said.
Zummach also noted that Smith told EMTs Nichols’ oxygen appeared low, and he blamed Nichols for not allowing the officers to handcuff him.
None of the officers on trial testified in their defense. They each called experts to try to combat prosecutors’ arguments that the officers used excessive force against Nichols, didn’t intervene, and failed to tell their supervisors and medical personnel about the extent of the beating.
Both Martin and the other former officer who pleaded guilty and testified for prosecutors, Desmond Mills, lied to investigators about what happened, said Perry, who warned the jury of playing a “game of changing words and semantics.”
Police video shows five officers, who are all Black, punched, kicked and hit Nichols, who was also Black, about a block from his home as he called out for his mother.
Outside the courthouse, supporters of Nichols' family stood in a circle for a prayer from Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson while holding hands. They ended the prayer with a chant of “Justice for Tyre.” Pearson sat next to Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, in court during the closing arguments, putting his hand on her back and rubbing gently to comfort her.
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.
The officers used pepper spray and a Taser on Nichols during the traffic stop, but the 29-year-old ran away, police video shows.
All five officers were fired. They were with the Scorpion Unit, which looked for drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders. It was disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Haley, Bean and Smith pleaded not guilty to federal charges of excessive force, failure to intervene, and obstructing justice through witness tampering. They face up to life in prison if convicted. The jury was expected to begin deliberating Thursday.
The five officers have pleaded not guilty to separate state charges of second-degree murder. A trial date in that case has not been set. Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas.
