NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four of five former Memphis officers charged with murder in Tyre Nichols' death following a police beating cannot work as law enforcement officers again in Tennessee, a state panel decided Friday.
The Peace Officer Standards & Training Commission, or P.O.S.T., voted to decertify Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith during a meeting Friday morning. It also approved the decision by Desmond Mills Jr. to surrender his certification.
The former officers have 30 days to appeal.
The Memphis Police Department has requested the decertification of seven former Memphis officers, including one who retired before he could be fired.
Mills’ attorney said his client has been wrongly indicted and is “focusing on his freedom.”
“It’s a waste of time,” attorney Blake Ballin said. “It is meaningless to him at this stage in his life.”
Neither the fired officers nor their attorneys showed up for a hearing Thursday in their cases in front of the panel. They were also not present for Friday’s vote.
Five of the seven fired officers have been charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death Jan. 10 following a traffic stop on Jan. 7. They have pleaded not guilty.
The fifth former officer charged, Tadarrius Bean, has not yet had his decertification hearing in front of the commission. Neither have two former officers who were not charged: Preston Hemphill, who was terminated after firing a stun gun at Nichols during the traffic stop; and Dewayne Smith, the...
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