White Memphis Police Officer Preston Hemphill Involved In Tyre Nichols Arrest Fired

Preston Hemphill, the white Memphis Police officer who was one of the first cops to confront Tyre Nichols, was fired from the force, the Memphis Police Department announced Friday evening. Hemphill encountered the 29-year-old during a traffic stop on Jan. 7 and allegedly deployed his Taser during the confrontation. In his own body camera video, Hemphill is seen chasing Nichols down the road, but then turns back to the scene of the initial traffic stop.  Hemphill was heard on his body camera video saying twice, "I hope they stomp his a--." Nichols was later confronted by a group of officers who used pepper spray and beat him, according to body camera footage from the night. Nichols died three days later in the hospital. The five officers who were seen in the video beating Nichols -Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith- have been fired and charged with second-degree murder. They are all Black. The Memphis PD said in a statement Friday that "after a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding the incident, we determined that Officer Preston Hemphill violated multiple department policies. Those violations included personal conduct, truthfulness and a violation for not using the Taser in compliance with regulations, the department said.

SOURCE