Officers who beat Tyre Nichols went against training protocol: Lt.

MEMPHIS — Memphis Police Lt. Larnce Wright said Thursday that three former officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, the department failed to follow policy when it beat him in January 2023 — testimony that contradicted the argument defense attorneys had made earlier in the week.

Nichols died three days after he was beaten by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop. Two of the officers involved, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., have already pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with the incident. Trials for three others facing federal conspiracy and civil rights charges — Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Demetrius Haley — began this week.

In court, prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert played bodycam footage from the night of Jan. 7, 2023, which showed officers beating Nichols. She paused the video and asked Wright whether the use of force in the footage was consistent with Memphis police training.

“No, ma’am,” replied Wright, who has been training Memphis police officers for seven years. “It’s not consistent with our training.”

Wright listed physical techniques that all Memphis Police recruits learn at their training academy, including open and closed hand punches and two types of kicks. Wright said officers are only allowed to use these techniques if a civilian poses a threat.

But Nichols never posed a threat, Wright said. In fact, he noted, officers continued to beat Nichols while one of his arms was restrained by officers and he was nearly defenseless, a violation of department policy.

Wright said the footage showed Martin kicking Nichols in the head as officers took turns punching him and handcuffing him. Bean and Smith held Nichols’ arms.

Haley then kicked Nichols in the upper body.

“They should have stopped him after the first kick,” Wright told Gilbert, referring to Martin. “They probably should have pulled him over.”

Gilbert asked Wright if officers are advised to kick someone when they handcuff him or her.

Wright replied, “No, ma’am.”

John Keith Perry, an attorney representing Bean, said during opening speech on wednesday that the officers had a dangerous job in one of the most dangerous areas of the city. He argued that officers had followed their training during their interaction with Nichols.

Michael Stengel, an attorney representing Haley, made a similar argument, saying officers in the police academy were trained to kick and punch.

According to experts, this is a typical argument for defense attorneys in such cases.

Adante Pointer, a lawyer who family of Oscar GrantA black man killed by a police officer in Oakland, California, in 2009 called it “an unfair argument.”

“When it got to trial, every one of those officers said, ‘This is the way we’re trained. This is a common defense theme that officers use.’ Oscar Grant was one of them,” Pointer said. “In every one of those cases, you have an expert who says that. In every one of those cases, you see the other side of the coin.” (Johannes Mehserle, a former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after fatally shooting Grant.)

The argument also points to a power dynamic between police and the people they are supposed to serve.

“They claim to follow certain parts of the training but ignore others,” Pointer said. “You have to adjust the amount of force you use based on the level of resistance. If someone can’t defend themselves or is passively resisting, you can’t escalate the use of force to lethal force.”

Anne Bremner, who represented a Tacoma, Washington police officer in the case of Manuel EllisA Black man killed by police in March 2020 said it was unusual for officers to testify against each other. But it’s increasingly common, especially in cases like Nichols’ — where, Bremner said, deadly force “was clearly not justified.”

“I think the blue line has changed,” she said. “There’s a change in officers prosecuting and there’s a change in officers testifying.”

“If what the (Nichols) “If the Public Prosecution Service’s allegations are true, this is appalling and reprehensible behavior.”