Documents reveal Memphis officer texted photos of Tyre Nichols after beating

After five Memphis officers beat Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop, one of those officers, Demetrius Haley, took and shared photos of the harrowing act.

Officer Demetrius Haley took photos of Tyre Nichols after beating

Authories have released documents Tuesday providing a blistering account of what authorities called the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Nichols.

Abhorrent behavior

Former officer Demetrius Haley reportedly stood over Nichols as he lay propped up against a police car and took photographs, which Haley admitted he sent to other officers and a female acquaintance, according to documents released by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission (POST) the Commercial Appeal reports.

Demetrius Haley (MPD)

“Your on-duty conduct was unjustly, blatantly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sworn public servant,” the Memphis Police Department wrote in requesting that Haley and the other officers be decertified.

POST is Tennessee’s police certification body, which also decertifies officers and prevents them from working in the state at another department.

MPD officers are not allowed to use a private cell phone while “actively performing any uniform patrol duties, such as but not limited to, operating a police vehicle, handling calls for service, conducting traffic stops, directing traffic and participating in a special events detail,” according to the department’s rules and regulations.

Officers are also prohibited from sharing information “relating to official police matters without prior approval or subpoena,” according to the department’s regulations.

Five officers fired and charged

Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — have all been fired and charged with second-degree murder.

From left: Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr, Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean

A sixth Memphis Police Department officer involved in the arrest, Preston Hemphill, was fired in February after officers discovered more information while investigating Nichols’ death, the department announced.

Nichols was taken to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition Jan. 7 after police pulled him over. He died three days later.

The new documents offer the most detailed account to date of each officer’s actions.