The Memphis Police Department relieved of duty a sixth officer on the scene of the beating of unarmed motorist Tyre Nichols, which led to his death three days later, WATN reports.
Preston Hemphill, hired by the department in 2018, has been taken off duty but not fired. Hemphill, who is white, was on the scene but it is unclear if he did or did not participate in the beating of Nichols, captured by body cam and surveillance camera footage. An unidentified officer pulled Nichols from the car and tased him, according to the body cam footage; it’s unknown if this was Hemphill.
Five other officers, all Black, have been fired and indicted on murder charges for beating Nichols, who was also Black, so badly he died three days later.