Three former Memphis police officers were convicted Thursday in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, but were acquitted of the harshest charges they faced for a death that sparked national protests and calls for broad changes in policing.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Three former Memphis officers who went on trial in the fatal beating of Tyree Nichols
00:12were convicted of one of four charges leveled against them, which is witness tampering,
00:18obstruction of justice.
00:19The three officers faced two civil rights charges, depriving Tyree Nichols of his civil
00:26rights by using excessive force and depriving Nichols of civil rights due to deliberate
00:32indifference.
00:33In other words, not worrying about his condition after he was injured.
00:39Two of the officers, Tadarius Bean and Justin Smith, were acquitted of excessive force and
00:45deliberate indifference.
00:47One officer, Demetrius Haley, was convicted of using excessive force causing bodily injury
00:54to Tyree Nichols, and he was also convicted of being deliberately indifferent to his condition
01:01after the beating, also for bodily injury.
01:04Before the verdict was read, Attorney Ben Crump sat next to Rovon Wells and Rodney Wells,
01:12Nichols' mother and stepfather.
01:14There were many marshals in the room, and the room was eerily dead silent as the verdict
01:19was being read.
01:21No one made any serious reactions.
01:23I did see Rovon Wells bow her head for a moment, but the decorum in the room was very somber,
01:30very silent, and very serious.
01:32After the verdict, the family, along with Attorney Ben Crump, friends, and activists
01:38gathered quietly in a huddle outside the courtroom, talking to each other and hugging each other.
01:44Rodney Wells, Nichols' stepfather, told me very briefly that, quote, a win is a win,
01:50baby.
01:51They're all going to jail.
01:52One of the aspects of this case that made it unique from other criminal cases in Memphis
01:56is the video.
01:57Prosecutors representing the state released video of the beating that was seen worldwide
02:05that shocked and angered many people, especially those who had been in Memphis for a long time
02:11calling for police reform.