Memphis Police Dept. fires 6th officer in relation to Tyre Nichols’ death

The Memphis Police Department announced on Friday that it has fired a sixth officer in relation to the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after he was brutally beaten by MPD officers in early January.

The latest officer who has been relieved of duty in this case is Preston Hemphill, a white officer who can be heard on his body camera at the scene the night of Nichols’ arrest and beating. He can also be seen deploying his taser in the footage from his own body cam. The Memphis Police Department came to its decision to fire Hemphill days after suspending him in connection to the Nichols incident.

Hemphill is the sixth MPD officer to be fired over Nichols’ death, along with several first responders who failed to render medical aid to Nichols for almost twenty minutes when they arrived on scene, as proven by video evidence. 

The Department of Justice announced this week it is opening an investigation into the Memphis Police Department and the case of Tyre Nichols. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said in a press release on Wednesday that the city is cooperating fully. “To honor Tyre and help make sure this type of tragedy does not happen again, the City of Memphis has engaged the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (“COPS”), through the Collaborative Reform Initial Technical Assistant Center (“CRI-TAC”) program, and the International Association of Police Chiefs (IACP) to conduct a review of the Memphis Police Department,” Strickland said. “The independent, external review by these agencies will include an assessment of MPD’s Special Units and use of force policies.”