Four out of the five former Memphis police officers charged with second degree murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols can no longer practice law enforcement in the State of Tennessee.
On Friday, the Peace Officer Standards & Training Commission (POST) voted to decertify three former officers Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith. The fourth former officer charged with murder, Desmond Mills, surrendered his license to practice law enforcement in the state earlier last week. Mills’ decision to surrender his license was approved by POST at its Friday meeting.
All four officers have a 30-day time frame to appeal the decision by POST.
Preston Hemphill and Dewayne Smith, the two additional officers that have been relieved of duty as a result of the investigation into the beating death of Nichols, have not yet had decertification hearings in front of POST.
Tadarrius Bean, the fifth officer charged with second degree murder, also has not yet had his decertification hearing in front of POST, according to a report by The Associated Press
Bean was the only former officer out of the five charged in Nichols’ death who did not have any records of past disciplinary complaints, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
All five officers charged in Nichols’ death were part of a special, 40-member SCORPION (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods) unit established in October 2021, which has since been permanently deactivated. SCORPION was described as an “elite crime-fighting unit” prior to Nichols’ death.
Earlier this month, the Memphis Police Department was temporarily blocked from releasing disciplinary files and additional video in the case of Tyre Nichols by a judge.
In a press release regarding the additional release of files and video, the City of Memphis wrote:
In a response to a Motion for Protective Order filed by attorneys for defense this morning, the Criminal Court of Tennessee for the 30th Judicial District Division 3 has ordered that no video, audio, or records related to the City’s administrative investigation may be released until further order by the court.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Image “Tyre Nichols Traffic Stop” by Memphis Police Department.
