Tyre Nichols death: Former officer Desmond Mills pleads guilty in federal court

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of five former Memphis police officers charged in the beating death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges filed in the case.

>> Read more trending news

Desmond Mills Jr. pleaded guilty two civil rights-related charges, court records show. The other four officers charged in Nichols death — Emmitt Martin III, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — have pleaded not guilty.

Mills enters guilty plea

Update 1:30 p.m. EDT Nov. 2: Mills pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law and conspiracy to witness-tamper, court records show. Prosecutors agreed to drop two other charges against him and recommend a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison in exchange for his plea.

In a court filing, Mills said he was working as a detective on the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION team on Jan. 7, and that he joined the chase for Nichols after hearing a call for assistance with a suspect who was running after he had been pepper sprayed and tased. Mills said that he found Bean and Smith hitting Nichols as he was on the ground, prompting Nichols to call for his mother.

Instead of trying to handcuff Nichols, Mills deployed pepper spray three times, hitting himself the third time. He said Martin showed up at the scene and joined the attack while Mills stepped away and drew his baton. Court records show Mills hit Nichols several times while demanding that he “give us your hands!”

In a court filing, he admitted that he “did not give Nichols an opportunity to comply with his commands as he continued his baton strikes.”

He then stepped back, still dealing with the effects of pepper spraying himself. At no point did he try to stop his fellow officers from attacking Nichols or seek medical help for him, court records show. He also joined other officers at the scene in claiming that Nichols was high on drugs.

Later, he lied to a detective tasked with writing the incident report for police and in paperwork submitted to the department following the attack.

He is set to be sentenced in May.

Original report: Court records show Desmond Mills Jr. will appear in court Thursday for a change of plea hearing, weeks after a grand jury indicted him and four other former officers on civil rights charges. Mills, Emmitt Martin III, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith face four federal charges, including deprivation of rights and witness tampering, court records show.

All five men pleaded not guilty to charges in September.

Authorities said the former officers “assaulted Nichols and willfully failed to intervene in the unlawful assault,” causing Nichols’ death. They also “willfully disregarded” Nichols’ need for medical attention following the beating, and later made false and misleading statements to other members of the Memphis Police Department to cover their wrongdoing, according to the indictment.

Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represent Nichols’ family, said in a statement Thursday that the plea “is entirely consistent with our allegations in the civil lawsuit against the City of Memphis.”

The family filed suit in April, accusing authorities of violating Nichols’ constitutional rights by stopping him without reason on the night of Jan. 7, using excessive force and failing to get him medical help after he was beaten.

The officers involved in the incident were part of the MPD’s since-disbanded Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, or SCORPION, unit, and family attorneys said the city failed to train them on the proper use of force.

“We stand strong in our belief that these officers, including Mills, acted at the direction of a policy that not only violated the civil rights of innocent civilians but which caused needless pain to many,” Crump and Romanucci said Thursday. “The MPD and its SCORPION unit directed, trained, and encouraged officers like Mills to commit baseless and horrific acts of violence against innocent individuals like Tyre Nichols.”

Officers stopped Nichols on Jan. 7, allegedly on suspicion of reckless driving. Video released by police showed officers beating him just blocks from his family’s home in Memphis before leaving him propped up against a police car without medical care for about 20 minutes.

A subsequent autopsy showed he died of blunt force injuries to the head.

Earlier this year, Martin, Bean, Haley, Mills and Smith were fired from the Memphis Police Department and charged with murder in Nichols’ death. They pleaded not guilty to state charges in February.