Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic images of violence.
CNN
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An initial police report filed in the hours after the traffic stop of Goma Nichols said he was aggressive and made contradictory claims on video was later released by police.
Nichols was beaten to the ground on January 7 after being stopped by Memphis police. He died three days later.
The initial police report said Nichols “became combative” with officers and at one point grabbed one of the detectives’ guns. But neither claim was substantiated by police videos released last week.
Although the videos do not appear to show Nichols fighting, the report identifies Nichols as a suspect in aggravated assault.
The police report does not mention the officers punching and kicking Nicole.
One of the officers at the scene — who has since been charged with second-degree murder — was described as the “victim” in the report.
The report also said Nichols, who was black, was pulled over for speeding — another claim not confirmed by the video.
Officials have not released the police report, but a photo of the police report was posted by the controversial Memphis radio talk show host. The police report was first reported by The New York Times.
“The DA has a report with a similar incident report,” Shelby County District Attorney spokeswoman Erica Williams told CNN.
The report said Nichols was very angry and sweating profusely when he got out of the vehicle and refused legal arrest by law enforcement. The pepper spray and Taser gun had no effect on Nichols, the report said.
The report lists E. Martin as the “victim.” Emmitt Martin III is one of five officers charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death.
It is unclear who wrote the police report, which cited both the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
CNN’s calls to Memphis police were not returned.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the statements in the police report or his role in the sheriff’s department.
“Reports related to the investigation are not authorized and the Sheriff’s Office cannot comment,” said spokesman John Morris.
Although the report does not show what was seen on police body cameras and Skycop street cameras. It appears to reflect what the officers were talking to after Nichols was taken into police custody and handcuffed the night of the incident.
As CNN previously reported, the initial police statement was contradicted by the videos.
For the first time since Nichols’ fatal beating, his brother, Jamal Dupree, is speaking publicly about the trauma that has plagued his family every day.
“It’s a never-ending nightmare,” Dupree told “CNN This Morning” on Tuesday.
Dupree did not watch the video of his 29-year-old brother being beaten with a stick and hit in the head. He said, “I don’t need to see.”
“As soon as I saw the pictures that were taken of him in the hospital, I already knew that they saw my brother as an animal,” Dupree said. “They beat him like it was nothing. I don’t have to watch the video to know that.”
After public outrage over the gruesome video, authorities announced additional firings or disciplinary action against government employees who were present.
In addition to the firing of five Black Memphis police officers — all of whom are charged with murder — officials also announced the firing of three Memphis Fire Department employees.
Two sheriff’s deputies were authorized. And the police department acknowledged Monday that two more police officers have decided to resign.
Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy said Monday that “we are looking at everyone who had any involvement in this incident.”
Prosecutors moved “too quickly” to charge the five officers who were primarily responsible for the death of Tyrus Nichols. “Like anyone, it will take some time as we conduct that investigation. But I assure you that the investigation continues.”
The release of the gruesome footage of the attack on Nichols has once again shocked people of color, particularly those of color.
The fatal collision began when police pulled Nichols over in two spots for what they said was suspected reckless driving.
The video, released Friday, shows Nichols fleeing as officers pull him out of the car and use pepper spray and a Taser to try to get him to lie. And then the officers took him to a second place, where he was repeatedly kicked and beaten.
After his hands were restrained and he was left to fall to the ground, it was 23 minutes before Gurney arrived at the scene. Nichols died of his injuries at a hospital three days later, authorities said he said..
Dupree said he felt it was his duty to protect his younger brother. Now, he says, he is filled with guilt for not being able to save him.
“My brother was trying to cooperate with them,” Dupree said.
“If I had been there, they would have killed me too. Because I used to fight them all,” he said.
Nichols said he wants everyone to remember how much joy he brought to the world.
“My brother’s legacy is everywhere now. Everyone knows that my brother was an innocent man. … He cares about people. He placed people before he placed himself. He was a very selfless person. He was just, all around, a good guy,” Dupree said.
“This should never happen to anybody, but at the same time, when you see someone like that, and when you know someone like that, it just takes him. … The world misses someone like that.”
Five Memphis police officers were fired on Jan. 20 and indicted last week. They face seven charges: second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon, official misconduct and official oppression.
The five officers — Tadarius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr. — are expected to be arraigned on Feb. 17.
“No one intended for Tyrus Nichols to die that night,” said William Massey, Martin’s attorney.
Mills’ attorney, Blake Balin, said Mills arrived later than other officers and his view was impaired by the pepper spray used during the traffic stop.
Balin said “some of the remaining questions require attention to the individual actions of Desmond Mills” and “whether Desmond’s actions crossed lines crossed by other officers in this incident.”
Attorneys for the other former officers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Monday, police said a sixth and seventh officer had been cleared, along with five others, on Jan. 8 — and that the two officers are still the subject of an internal investigation.
Police identified one of the two officers as Preston Hemphill. Police spokeswoman Kimberly Elder declined to say whether Hemphill was being paid.
The city released body camera and surveillance camera footage of the first traffic stop, as well as the second scene of the beating. One of the body-cam videos shows Hemphill — at the scene of the first traffic stop — firing a Taser at Nichols and eventually saying, “One of them hit him in the ass,” after Nichols ran away.
“I hope they kick his ass,” Hemphill told a fellow officer twice.
That body camera video does not show Hemphill in the second location, where the county’s district attorney said Nichols was beaten and seriously injured.
Hemphill’s attorney Lee Gerald, whose client was not charged — “was never in the second scene.”
The seventh officer has not been officially announced.
“The actions and actions of Officer Preston Hemphill and other officers continue to be the subject of this investigation,” Memphis police said Monday.
“There are still many lawsuits pending.”
The Memphis Fire Department has announced that three employees have been fired for their response to the incident.
Emergency medical technicians Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker have been suspended, the fire department announced Monday.
The trio responded to a report of a “pepper-sprayed man” when they arrived at the scene of the fatal beating and found Nicole on the ground, the fire department said.
The department’s investigation found that “the two EMTs responded based on the initial nature of the call and the information provided at the scene and did not conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols,” the fire chief said.
Whittaker remained in the fire truck, the department said.
Polaroid camera video released Friday shows that after EMTs arrived and before an ambulance arrived, as first responders repeatedly walked away from Nichols, Nichols continuously fell to his side.
Additionally, two Shelby County Sheriff’s Office deputies were placed on leave last week pending an investigation, after video of the crash was released.
“I am concerned about the two deputies who appeared on the scene following a physical altercation between police and Tyr Nichols,” Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said Friday.
After the fire department shooting was announced Monday, Tyros Nichols’ family attorney Antonio Romanucci said, “Everybody in that place has been devastated by this man’s death in one way, shape, form or another.”
“They either failed because of force majeure. They failed to strike badly; They failed by not intervening; They failed by not providing assistance,” the attorney said Monday.
Nichols’ family said they are still trying to absorb the scope of this multi-agency investigation as they lose their loved one.
“This is a failure of the system that we have to rely on, it’s really unspeakable,” Romanucci said.
A Memphis City Council member said more work needs to be done.
“We need to go through our police department and see where we’re weak, what’s happened with our operations, what’s happened with our oversight,” said Councilman Jeff Warren.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the end. And when we go into the trial, I think we will find that there is more to it than that,” he said. “I don’t think we’re at that stage yet.”