MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A former police officer testified Tuesday that he punched Tyre Nichols at least five times and kicked him four times before taking off his body camera.
“We didn’t want them to see what we were doing,” Emmitt Martin III told a federal jury at the trial of three former officers charged with assaulting Nichols, who died three days later.
Martin, who ordered the traffic stop against Nichols, said in federal court Monday that Nichols never posed a threat and that the officers downplayed their actions during the Jan. 7, 2023, encounter that led to the brutal assault of Nichols.
Martin, who has already pleaded guilty, said Nichols ran away immediately after being pepper-sprayed, but he caught up with him and several officers were already at the scene.
“I ran over to help and then kicked him,” Martin told the court, adding that his actions were intentional and against Memphis Police Department policy.
“I was angry. … I was already angry that he ran away from the initial stop,” Martin said of the traffic stop that led to the encounter.
Martin said he punched Nichols at least five times and kicked him four times, then stood by and watched as former officers Justin Smith and Tadarius Bean beat Nichols.
Martin alleged that Nichols lied to his boss about being high and then punched him.
Martin said in court that his punch was intentional, violated Memphis Police Department policy and served no legal purpose.
He added that Mr Nicholls was “helpless”.
Martin said he got out of the way without offering help when former officer Desmond Mills Jr. began hitting Nichols with a baton.
He said it’s standard for members of the Memphis Police Department’s anti-violence team to remain silent about use of force.
Martin gave his second day of testimony Monday after testifying in court that the officers’ use of excessive force was a violation of regulations and that Nichols never posed a threat during the encounter.
Martin testified that he was upset that night because he had not yet made an arrest, but later noticed Nichols was driving a little too fast when the light turned red and saw him change lanes without using his turn signal.
A search of Nichols’ license plate revealed that he had no warrants for his arrest and was not a violent offender, but Martin radioed his colleagues on the police force’s anti-violence unit over a private channel to say they needed to stop a felon.
“I exaggerated what he did and… things escalated,” Martin said, adding that officers were breaking protocol by pursuing a non-violent offender.
Bean, Smith and Demetrius Haley have pleaded not guilty to charges of depriving Nichols, 29, of his rights by excessive force and failure to intervene, and obstructing justice by witness tampering.
Martin and Mills, the first former officers to testify at trial, pleaded guilty to federal charges.
The five were fired for violating police rules. They were part of a crime-fighting unit called Scorpion, which was disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Martin, whose co-workers nicknamed him “Full Can” after he once used an entire can of pepper spray on a suspect, testified that the incident was his first week back on the job after being hit by a car while on the job and taking about six weeks off.
Asked by prosecutor Katherine Gilbert how he felt about his return, Martin replied: “I felt nervous. I felt a desire for revenge. I felt angry.”
Martin said that after Nichols was stopped, Haley brandished a gun and told Nichols to “get out of the car,” after which Martin pulled out his gun and Haley dragged Nichols from the car.
Nichols, who was black, died in a hospital three days after being kicked, punched and hit with a baton by police during a traffic stop.
The horrifying video shows Nichols being beaten with a baton, pepper sprayed and kicked in the face while calling for her mother just a block from her home.
The deadly clash has reignited calls for police reform and prosecution of officers.
The autopsy report said Nichols’ cause of death was homicide caused by a blow to the head resulting in brain damage and cuts and bruising.
Rebecca Byrd reported from Memphis and Deon J. Hampton reported from Denver.