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. — A former Memphis police officer who hit Tyre Nichols with a stun gun during a traffic stop that preceded Nichols’ brutal beating by other officers won’t be charged criminally, a prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said his office did a thorough investigation of Preston Hemphill’s role in the arrest, reviewing hours of body camera footage and interviewing witnesses multiple times.
“By no means do we endorse the conduct of Officer Hemphill at that first traffic stop … but we do not believe that criminal charges are appropriate, » Mulroy said.
Hemphill was fired Feb. 3 after an internal Memphis Police Department investigation showed he violated multiple department policies for his role in the Jan. 7 arrest of Nichols, who died in a hospital three days later.
