A combination of images provided by the Memphis Police Department shows (from left) former police officers Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. A Tennessee committee voted to cancel Haley, Martin and Smith’s certification. Mills has waived his certification.
Memphis Police Department via AP
hide captions
switch captions
Memphis Police Department via AP
A combination of images provided by the Memphis Police Department shows (from left) former police officers Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. A Tennessee committee voted to cancel Haley, Martin and Smith’s certification. Mills has waived his certification.
Memphis Police Department via AP
A Tennessee committee voted on Friday to confirm three former Memphis police officers charged with murder in Tire Nichols’ death, preventing them from going to work at other Tennessee law enforcement agencies. The commission also passed a decision to waive the certification of a former officer.
Three former officers — Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — will be notified of the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) decision and have 30 days to appeal or comply. Desmond Mills Jr. gave up his certification but maintained his innocence, as did the other officers.
In an informal hearing on Thursday, Memphis Police Department investigator Monique Williams recommended having their certificates revoked, saying they were “found to be in breach of personal integrity, integrity, and integrity. , neglect of duty, unnecessarily excessive use of force” and other violations.
Most states have a de-certification process that prevents officers with a history of misconduct from returning to work in the jurisdiction that certified them. However, certified officers can and do still get police jobs out of state. Have no federal certification databaseand although there is a privately run National Certification Index, participation is voluntary.
The three other former officers investigated in the death of the 29-year-old Black man — Tadarrius Bean, Preston Hemphill and Dewayne Smith — will have hearings to cancel the certification at a later date. Dewayne Smith and Hemphill have not been charged with any crime.
Four certified former officers plus Bean belong to SCORPION device has now stopped working. Following Nichols’ death, all five were convicted and charged with second-degree murder. and all five pleaded not guilty.
Dewayne Smith, a lieutenant with the Memphis Police Department and supervisor of the SCORPION unit, was at the scene when police beat Nichols to death. He Retirement with full benefits less than a day before he is expected to be fired. Police station still asking for my certificationand he will be served notice for the upcoming hearing.
Nichols died on January 10, three days after Memphis police stopped him for allegedly reckless driving. Police said He fled the scene and was arrested after twice confronting the officers.
After his arrest, Nichols complained of shortness of breath and he was taken to hospital in critical condition after being brutally beaten. Nichols’ family said the beating made him unidentifiable.
Katie Riordan, freelance contributor for member station WKNO, contributed reporting.
