After five former Memphis police officers were jailed and charged Thursday in a Jan. 7 traffic stop that resulted in the death of a motorist, a prosecutor said Thursday the officers “are all responsible.”
The former officers were taken into custody Thursday morning and in the afternoon were charged with murder in the death of Tyre Nichols, 29.
Authorities said Nichols fled on foot after being pulled over in a traffic stop and having an altercation with police. At a separate location, police said, Nichols was involved in another altercation with police, in which he was injured.
President Biden and others urged peaceful protests in the wake of Thursday’s developments.
During a Thursday afternoon press conference, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said the five officers were part of an organized-crime unit called Scorpion.

A portrait of Tyre Nichols is displayed at a memorial service for him on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn. Nichols was killed during a traffic stop with Memphis Police on Jan. 7. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said, “I’m shocked and sickened by what I saw. I’ve seen the video. In a word, it’s absolutely appalling …. What happened here does not at all reflect proper policing. This was wrong. This was criminal.”
To Nichols’ family, Rausch said, “We can’t imagine the pain you’re experiencing. But let me reaffirm that we are here to pursue truth and justice. This shouldn’t have happened.”
The family’s grief was also cited by Mulroy, who said, “We’re here today because of a tragedy that wounds one family deeply but also hurts us all … we understand the grief the family is experiencing right now.”
Mulroy said Nichols was pulled over in a traffic stop that may or may not have been legal.
The officers were fired last week by Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis, who said the officers were found to be in violation of multiple police department policies in the beating death of Nichols.
The former officers jailed are Desmond Mills Jr., Justin Smith, Emmit Martin III, Tadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley.
Martin, Smith and Bean face charges of second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of acting in concert to commit aggravated assault and three counts of official misconduct.
Mills and Haley were charged with second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of acting in concert to commit aggravated assault and one count of official oppression.
Nichols family members said Tyre endured a horrific beating.
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., urged peaceful protests in response to the killing and subsequent arrests.
Related Story: Major US cities brace for possible violence after Atlanta riots ahead of Tyre Nichols video
In a statement on the House floor Thursday, he said, “Right now, much of the national media is looking at Memphis, as there was an awful killing of a 29-year-old African American man by five police officers within the last few weeks. The five police officers have been fired by the Police Department for violating their oaths…It could be a situation where people want to exercise their First Amendment rights to protest actions of the Police Department, and people should. But they should be peaceful and calm.”
Thursday afternoon, President Joe Biden released a statement on the case, saying, “Jill and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of Tyre Nichols and the entire Memphis community. Tyre’s family deserves a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his death. As Americans grieve, the Department of Justice conducts its investigation, and state authorities continue their work, I join Tyre’s family in calling for peaceful protest. Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable. … It has no place in peaceful protests seeking justice.”
In the statement, Biden again called on Congress to send the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to his desk to sign.
The Rev. Al Sharpton issued a statement, saying the charges against the officers “are a necessary first step in delivering justice for Tyre and his family, although nothing will ever be enough to fill the void that his loss has left.”
But he added: “There is no point to putting a body camera on a cop if you aren’t going to hold them accountable when the footage shows them relentlessly beating a man to death. Firings are not enough. Indictments and arrests are not convictions.”
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I.A.W. U.S. Census & FBI (Table 43a)
Black males make up about 7% of the U.S. population but every year commit ~56% of all the murders and ~64% of all robberies in the U.S… Every year in the U.S. there are ~6,000 African-Americans men, women and children killed and 92% of them were killed by fellow African-Americans.
What does this tell you about the character of Blacks?
“Judge not by the color of one’s skin, but by the contents of their character”
SO IF this was all BLACK COPS on a black man, WHY ARE there going to be riots??
Where’s the claims of racism there!?
I’ve been pointing out these similar facts all the time. Certain people don’t want to take responsibility for their own actions be it individual, or group. Rather place blame on everyone and everything else but them self and their very own conduct. Certain people are genetically violent and we see that genetic violence daily here in the US as well as other parts of the world.
One comment my mom had..
IN all the other cases, where it was ‘WHITE officers/Black perps”, WE GOT info on ‘how many times prior, that those officers had XYZ accusations, ABC citations etc..
SO WHERE are they for this unit?
A bit of a new twist on a repetitive storyline that the Media has intoxicated itself with. Now we have five Black police officers who supposedly beat up a Black suspect. Police officers have come under fire nationally by the Black community, race baiters, protest groups, and Liberal politicians for their supposed targeting of Blacks. All of the usual talking heads have come forward to offer their expert opinion, their keen insight, and their spot-on analysis.
But, how are they going to slice this one up?? They have their favorite minoeity group on both ends of this one. Playing the race card is going to be a bit difficult in this case.
I’m still wondering when police arresting a criminal who earlier in the day had a criminal altercation with the police, is now considered kidnapping? Anybody take a blood sample to see what the victim was on?
Sounds like one bad guy and possibly 5 good cops got removed from the neighborhood. There would have to be some rather convicting evidence on the body cameras to reverse this very cogent possibility. Hope it’s not a case of cowardly white police chiefs throwing their own under the bus to placate the media confused for a “guilty by political correctness”. I can imagine an emotionally out of control violence threatened policeman not following procedure,,,not all five at once. The victim was neither innocent nor an Angel of light himself and was probably running away from more than his part in what happened to himself that day and I assure you it was not just a simple media reported traffic stop. Just watch Al Sharpton show up as the one for the money, and CNN and MSNBS the two for the show.
Why, if this scenario is as serious as it is beig made out to be—and given the hatred being shown towards police nationally—why would these officers engage in such behavior knowing that it is being videotaped? It makes no sense. But if they are guilty, it certainly puts a black mark on policing at a time when it is definitely not needed—and it is a sad testament to human civility.
AND why is it, EVERY ethnicity has had instances of police brutality against it.
B UT ITS ONLY BLACKS who seem to get up and protest/riot over it?!
They will claim that the black cops “Aren’t really black”, like they claim with black conservatives and black Trump supporters. Therefor they will claim they are uncle tom’s and racist against their own black community. They will find a way to use the race card even in this case.
True.. THEY CAN ALWAYS try to push the racism angle..
with the lack of prosecution of mostly black perps in big cities.
they have let them out of jails when they have commited heinous crimes.
does not take long for these criminals realize hey if do do it they will just let me go so i can keep doing it.
build more jails and put these animals in them for ever.
All 5 of these cops have bonded out of jail.
This isn’t the usual anti-cop riot. The left must be getting pretty confused by now.