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The Memphis Police Department (MPD) has announced a seventh officer has been suspended as the investigation into Tyre Nichols’s death continues.
The officer, who has not been identified, was relieved of duty on Jan. 8, the day after Nichols was reportedly stopped for reckless driving and severely beaten. Graphic video footage of the incident was released on Friday.
The footage showed an initial stop of Nichols, where officers immediately attempted to pull him from his car and proceeded to tase him before he escaped and ran away. When five other Memphis officers, who are all Black, caught up to him, they can be seen deploying pepper spray and a stun gun against Nichols and repeatedly punching and kicking him as he was yelling for his mother.
News of the seventh officer’s suspension comes after the department identified Preston Hemphill, a white officer hired in 2018, for his involvement in the initial stop of Nichols.
“Officer Hemphill’s actions and involvement has been under investigation as he participated in the initial traffic stop and the use of a TASER,” the department said in a statement posted to Twitter.
