By Brendan O’Brien
(Reuters) – The district attorney in Tennessee will examine the case files of the five former Memphis police officers who have been charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, CNN reported on Friday, citing a statement from his office.
Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy said in the statement his office will that review all “all prior cases — closed and pending” of the five dismissed officers who face second-degree murder, assault and kidnapping charges in the death of Nichols, a 29-year-old Black father who was beaten by police after a traffic stop on Jan. 7.
“This is just the beginning,” Mulroy’s spokesperson Erica Williams told CNN. “This involves any criminal case that [the officers] were involved in. It is any case where there were criminal charges that were brought by the DA anytime since they became officers.”
The Shelby County District Attorney’s office was not immediately available for comment.
Videos released by the city two weeks ago showed Nichols crying out for his mother as the five Black officers kicked, punched and beat him with a baton. He died in a hospital three days later. The footage led to a national outcry and protests in several major U.S. cities.
The beating occurred despite the use-of-force policies that Memphis and other U.S. cities pledged to strengthen after the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The five officers were members of SCORPION, a now-disbanded specialized police unit that was formed in October 2021 to concentrate on crime hot spots. Critics say such specialized teams can be prone to abusive tactics.
An additional officer has been dismissed from the police department while seven more officers were expected to face formal disciplinary charges for their involvement in the incident.
Several of the officers who have been fired had received written reprimands or short suspensions for violating department policies, according to their personnel files.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, Editing by Louise Heavens)
