Officers who beat Tyre Nichols didn't follow police training, lieutenant testifies

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Three former officers charged in the beating death of Tyre Nichols did not comply with Memphis Police Department training policies when they punched, kicked and hit the 29-year-old motorist with a baton after a January 2023 traffic stop, a police lieutenant testified Thursday.

Lt. Larnce Wright offered the testimony during the federal trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, which began Monday.

Also Thursday, jurors for the first time watched footage of Nichols being beaten from a police pole camera and body worn cameras. Wright trained the three men and their two former colleagues, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., who already have pleaded guilty to civil rights violations in the case.

RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, left the courtroom when the violent, expletive-filled video was shown. She has said she has not watched any of the videos of the attack since they were publicly released last year.

The officers can be heard on body camera footage repeatedly giving Nichols orders such as “give me your hands” and “lay down,” while issuing threats such as, “I’m going to baton the f--- out of you.” Nichols was on the ground, with officers holding his arms, for much of the video.

Prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert repeatedly asked Wright if the officers were complying with departmental policies and training during the beating.

“No ma’am,” Wright said, adding that other officers “should have intervened” to stop the beating. Wright said an officer has a duty to physically intervene or call a supervisor to the scene if the officer sees another officer using more force than necessary.

The lieutenant said the officers should have used armbars, wrist locks and other soft hands tactics to handcuff Nichols, rather than punching and kicking him and hitting him with a baton.

“That wasn’t necessary if the goal is to get him in handcuffs,” Wright said.

Wright also noted that the officers kept ordering Nichols to give them his hands, when they already had them, and kept hitting him when Nichols was not a threat.

“I don’t understand the command, ‘give me your hands,’ when they already had his hands,” Wright said.

Wright said officers are trained to use only use force necessary to safely bring a person into custody, and to only match the force used by that person. Wright said police cannot use force as punishment.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Rogers said Wednesday that the officers were punishing Nichols for fleeing a traffic stop and that they just stood around during “crucial” minutes when Nichols' heart stopped, when they could have helped him.

Defense attorneys have argued that Nichols was not cooperating with their orders and fought them as they tried to arrest him.

Wright’s testimony had been expected to continue after a lunch break Thursday, but U.S. District Judge Mark Norris called off the rest of the day’s proceedings due to continued rain and concerns about increasing winds from the remnants of Hurricane Francine.

Bean, Haley and Smith have pleaded not guilty to charges that they deprived the Nichols of his rights through excessive force and failure to intervene, and obstructed justice through witness tampering. Martin and Mills, who pleaded guilty, are expected to testify for prosecutors.

Nichols, who was Black, died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating. Police video shows the five officers charged, who also are Black, beating Nichols as he yells for his mother about a block from her home. Video also shows the officers milling about and talking as Nichols struggles with his injuries.

Rachael Love, a nurse practitioner, testified Wednesday that Nichols had no pulse for 25 minutes until it was restored at the hospital.

An autopsy report shows Nichols died from blows to the head and that the manner of death was homicide. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and other areas.

All five officers belonged to the now disbanded Scorpion Unit crime suppression team and were fired for violating Memphis Police Department policies.

They were also charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty, although Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set.

Wells told reporters Wednesday that she hope for three guilty verdicts and for the world to know her son “wasn’t the criminal that they’re trying to make him out to be.”

Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.

Former Memphis police officer Tadarrius Bean arrives at the federal courthouse for the second day of jury selection for the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former Memphis police officer Tadarrius Bean, right, arrives at the federal courthouse with attorney John Keith Perry, right, for the second day of jury selection for the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former Memphis police officer Justin Smith, left, and attorney Martin Zummach, right, arrive at the federal courthouse for the second day of jury selection for the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley arrives at the federal courthouse for the second day of jury selection for the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

RowVaughn Wells, left, and Rodney Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols, arrive at the federal courthouse before the start of jury selection of the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Memphis. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

FILE - The image from video released on Jan. 27, 2023, by the City of Memphis, shows Tyre Nichols during a brutal attack by five Memphis police officers on Jan. 7, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. (City of Memphis via AP, File)

FILE - This combo of images provided by the Memphis, Tenn., Police Department shows, top row from left, officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, and bottom row from left, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. (Memphis Police Department via AP, File)

Former Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley arrives at the federal courthouse for the second day of jury selection for the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former Memphis police officer Tadarrius Bean arrives at the federal courthouse for the second day of jury selection for the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former Memphis police officer Justin Smith arrives at the federal courthouse for the second day of jury selection for the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

FILE - The screen at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans honors Tyre Nichols before an NBA basketball game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Washington Wizards, Jan. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton, File)

Officers who beat Tyre Nichols didn't follow police training, lieutenant testifies

Officers who beat Tyre Nichols didn't follow police training, lieutenant testifies

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it is teaming up with yet another energy company as part of a mission to transform portions of government-owned property once used for the nation's nuclear weapons program into prime real estate for renewable energy endeavors.

The federal agency will be negotiating a lease agreement with Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources Development for nearly 3 square miles (7.8 square kilometers) of land surrounding the nation's only underground repository for nuclear waste.

The project at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico is the latest to be announced by the Energy Department, which has identified more than 50 square miles (130 square kilometers) of government land that can be used for constructing solar arrays and battery storage systems that can supply utilities with emissions-free electricity.

Other lease agreements already are being negotiated for projects stretching from the Hanford Site in Washington state, where the U.S. produced plutonium, to national laboratories and other sites in Idaho, Nevada and South Carolina.

Andrew Mayock with the White House Council on Environmental Quality on Tuesday echoed a statement made earlier this year when the first negotiations were announced. He said federal agencies are using their scale and purchasing power to support the growth of the clean energy industry.

"We will spur new clean electricity production, which is good for our climate, our economy, and our national security,” he said.

At the nuclear repository in New Mexico, federal officials say there is potential to install at least 150 megawatts of solar and another 100 megawatts of storage.

While the amount of energy generated by NextEra at the WIPP site would be more than enough to meet the needs of the repository, none would feed directly into government operations there. Officials said the energy from the solar array would be sold to Xcel Energy by NextEra and put into the utility's distribution system.

Xcel serves customers in parts of New Mexico and Texas, as well as other states.

Officials said there is no estimate of when ground could be broken, saying engineering and planning work would be needed once a lease is signed and regulatory approvals would be required.

The largest of the so called cleanup-to-clean-energy projects is slated for the Hanford Site, where Hecate Energy LLC has plans to deliver a gigawatt-scale system that would span thousands of acres on the southeastern edge of the property. It could be several years before that project comes online.

FILE - The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is seen, March 6, 2014, near Carlsbad, N.M. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)