A sixth Memphis officer was fired on Friday after an internal police investigation showed he violated multiple department policies in the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, including rules surrounding the deployment of a stun gun, officials said.
Preston Hemphill had previously been suspended as he was investigated for his role in the arrest of Nichols, who died three days later. Five Memphis officers have already been fired and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’s death.
Hemphill was the third officer at a traffic stop that preceded the violent arrest but was not present when Nichols was beaten.
On body camera footage from the initial stop, Hemphill is heard saying that he stunned Nichols and declaring: “I hope they stomp his ass.”
Also Friday, a Tennessee board suspended the emergency medical technician licenses of two former Memphis fire department employees, EMT Robert Long and advanced EMT JaMichael Sandridge, for failing to render critical care.
The firing and suspensions build on efforts by authorities to hold officers and other first responders accountable for the violence against Nichols, who was Black. Six Black officers have been fired and charged with second-degree murder and other charges. One other officer has been suspended. The justice department has opened a civil rights investigation into the attack, which was captured on video.
Emergency medical services board member Jeff Beaman said during Friday’s emergency meeting that there may have been other licensed personnel on scene – including a supervisor – who could have prevented the situation that led to the death of Nichols. Beaman said he hopes the board addresses that issue in the future.
Board members watched 19 minutes of surveillance video that showed Long and Sandridge as they failed to care for Nichols, who couldn’t stay seated upright against the side of the vehicle, lying prone on the ground multiple times.
“The [state] department [of health] alleges that neither Mr Sandridge nor Mr Long engaged in emergency care and treatment to patient TN, who was clearly in distress during the 19-minute period,” said Matt Gibbs, an attorney for the state department of health.
Board member Sullivan Smith said it was “obvious to even a layperson” that Nichols “was in terrible distress and needed help”.
“And they failed to provide that help,” Smith said. “They were his best shot, and they failed to help.”
Nichols was beaten after police stopped him for what they said was a traffic violation. Video released after pressure from Nichols’s family shows officers holding him down and repeatedly punching, kicking and striking him with a baton as he screamed for his mother.
Six of the officers involved were part of the so-called scorpion unit, which targeted violent criminals in high-crime areas. The unit has since been disbanded.
The killing led to renewed public outcry over how police forces treat Black citizens with excessive violence, regardless of the race of the police officers.
At Nichols’s funeral on Wednesday, calls for reform and justice were interwoven with grief over the loss of a man remembered as a son, a sibling, a father and a passionate photographer and skateboarder.