It was a stunning revelation: One of the officers involved in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols took a cellphone photo of the bloodied and handcuffed man and shared it with five other people. The disclosure was part of the Memphis Police Department’s request to the state that the five former officers charged with murder in Nichols’ death be decertified. But the officer’s statement about sharing the photo will likely never be seen by a jury. So-called “Garrity statements” are disclosures made by police officers during internal investigations under the threat of termination if they stay silent. Courts have viewed those statements as inadmissible in criminal proceedings because the officers were forced to talk.
The officer who pulled Tyre Nichols from his car before police fatally beat him never explained why he was being stopped, newly released documents show.
The officer who pulled Tyre Nichols from his car before police fatally beat him never explained why he was being stopped, newly released documents show, and emerging reports from Memphis residents suggest that was common.