One Memphis officer took and shared pictures of bloodied Tyre Nichols as he was propped against a police vehicle, according to new documents released this week, reports said.
Newly released documents provide a damning account of what authorities say was "blatantly unprofessional" conduct by five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols, including accounts about how one officer took and shared pictures of the bloodied victim, according to multiple media reports.
The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols and took cellphone images, which he sent to other officers and a female acquaintance, said documents released by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, the reports say.
"Your on-duty conduct was unjustly, blatantly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sworn public servant," the Memphis Police Department wrote in requesting that Haley and the other officers be decertified, a determination that prevents the officers from being rehired or working in another state jurisdiction.
Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis sent a request for a change in status for Haley, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills, Justin Smith, and Tadarrius Bean. Those officers have all been charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nichols’ death last month.
Nichols was hospitalized in critical condition Jan. 7 after police pulled him over for a traffic violation and beat and tased him, authorities said. He died three days later.
All five of the criminally charged officers also failed to activate their body-worn cameras or recorded only snippets of the encounter, which are violations of department policies, the documents said, according to reports.
Attorneys for the fired officers declined comment or did not respond to media requests for comment, the reports said.
Haley was driving an unmarked car and was on his personal cellphone when he pulled Nichols from his vehicle and doused him with pepper spray, the documents stated, according to reports.
"You never told the driver the purpose of the vehicle stop or that he was under arrest," the document said, media outlets reported.
After Nichols was handcuffed and propped against a vehicle, the officers were captured on body camera footage making multiple unprofessional comments, laughing and bragging about each other’s involvement, the documents said.
An additional seven officers may face disciplinary measures for allegedly violating department policies, according to the documents, media outlets reported.
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