A former Memphis law enforcement agent who says he worked patrol with two of the officers accused in the brutal beating death of Tyre Nichols took to TikTok to blast the officers’ conduct.
Brandon Williams, who now lives in Dallas, says he was an officer with the Memphis Police Department between 2016 and 2021. His time at the Memphis Police Department overlapped with Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and Desmond Mills Jr. — the five former officers from the now-disbanded Scorpion unit charged with second-degree murder and other felonies in connection with the death of Nichols, a 29-year-old black man. The five officers also are black.
“Two of the five officers I did patrol with personally and did have a personal relationship with,” Williams said in the video, which has gone viral in recent days. Attempts to reach Williams for a follow-up interview were unsuccessful.
He does not identify the officers he worked with in the TikTok video, but says there’s no excuse for their actions. Body camera footage shows the officers repeatedly hitting and kicking Nichols following a Jan. 7 traffic stop.
“I’ve had to pull out people, rip people out of a car aggressively, at gunpoint with foul language many times, but most of those people were murderers, robbers, sexual assaulters, the worst of the worst where you need to meet violence with violence,” Williams said. He added that he “never once” drew his weapon on someone he supposed was reckless driving.
An initial police report claimed that Nichols was driving recklessly when the members of the Scorpion Unit stopped him. Video of the incident doesn’t appear to corroborate the report.
Steve Spingola, a retired Milwaukee Lieutenant Detective and nationally recognized expert in criminal investigations, said adrenaline in the face of a violent confrontation can make police officers respond over-aggressively. But he said there doesn’t appear to be any excuse for the conduct of the officers in the Tyre Nichols incident.
“There’s a limit. There’s a social contract with the people you serve. You violate that, it’s over,” said Spingola, who served as lead investigator for the Critical Incident Unit, a group that probes police-related shootings, use-of-force incidents, and other significant events. He was also heavily involved in the high-profile case of Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
Spingola agrees with Williams, that the Tyre Nichols police stop and the events that followed show little of proper police training. They say other officers at the scene had a duty under the law and as human beings to intervene and try to stop the brutal beating.
“There is no way, form, or fashion that you take a police boot and you strike a man’s face multiple times while he’s on the ground. … There is no way that is excusable,” Williams said in the TikTok video “I don’t care who you’re fighting, a kick to the face right here, that could be lethal. And unless you’re intentionally trying to kill somebody that is not a tactic that is taught, nor should ever be used.”
Watch the video:
@brandonwilliams972_ My take as a former Memphis Police officer #tyrenichols #memphispolice #memphispolicedepartment #police #memphis
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
