Ex-officer testifies he beat a 'helpless' Tyre Nichols then lied about it

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Ex-officer testifies he beat a 'helpless' Tyre Nichols then lied about it

2024-09-18 06:35 Last Updated At：06:40

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A former Memphis police officer testified Tuesday that he punched a “helpless” Tyre Nichols at least five times while two colleagues held his arms and said, “hit him,” then lied to his supervisor about their use of force in a beating that proved fatal.

Emmitt Martin III testified that he was at the traffic stop on Jan, 7, 2023, when Nichols was pulled over and yanked from his car. Nichols fled, and Martin said Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith gave chase and were punching the 29-year-old man without their handcuffs out when Martin caught up with them.

“They were assaulting him,” Martin said Tuesday.

Bean, Smith and Demetrius Haley have pleaded not guilty to charges that they deprived Nichols of his civil rights through excessive force and failure to intervene, and obstructed justice through witness tampering.

The four men, along with Desmond Mills Jr., were fired after Nichols' death. The beating was caught on police video, which was released publicly. The officers were later indicted on the federal charges. Martin and Mills have taken plea deals and are testifying against their former colleagues.

The five officers were part of the Scorpion Unit, a team of officers tasked with finding drugs, illegal guns and violent criminals. The unit was disbanded after Nichols' death.

Jurors watched video clips as Nichols' mother and stepfather, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, sat outside the courtroom. RowVaughn Wells has never seen the video. Nichols’ brother watched the video inside.

Martin said he was angry that Nichols had run, and that the team had not yet made any arrests that night.

“I figured that’s what he should get,” Martin said.

Prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert asked Martin whether officers were allowed to use force out of anger.

“No ma’am,” he said, adding that he should have intervened.

Martin said he threw his body camera on the ground because he didn't want to show "we were assaulting Mr. Nichols.”

Martin said he kicked Nichols, while Mills hit him with a baton. Then Martin said he punched Nichols at least five times while Bean and Smith held his arms and urged Martin on. Officers were holding his arms while also commanding him to give them his hands.

“He was helpless,” Martin said of Nichols.

Martin said he did not tell Lt. Dewayne Smith, his supervisor, about their use of force. Martin said he told Lt. Smith that Nichols was high, without evidence, and that officers lied about Nichols driving into oncoming traffic and swinging at them during the traffic stop.

Martin testified that while he felt pressure on his gun belt at the traffic stop, he never saw Nichols' hands on his gun. Yet, Martin said, he told his supervisor that Nichols had his hands on his weapon.

“I exaggerated his actions to justify mine,” Martin said.

He said colleagues understood that, “they weren’t going to tell on me, and I wasn’t going to tell on them.”

Martin said they violated department policy with their use of force and lying about it.

Martin acknowledged his plea deal and he said he hoped the judge would show leniency at sentencing.

“I can’t sit here and live with a lie. The truth needs to come out,” Martin told Gilbert. “It was eating me up inside.”

Under cross examination by Bean’s lawyer, John Keith Perry, Martin said he had been injured in November 2022 when he was hit by a car, and he had only returned to the Scorpion Unit four days before the Nichols arrest. While Martin was away from his team, Justin Smith called and Martin told him he was having homicidal thoughts, Martin said.

Martin also said he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, with problems including trouble sleeping, paranoia, irritability and anger issues.

Perry tried to show inconsistencies between Martin’s previous statements to investigators and his court testimony.

He pressed Martin about his wording in court, such as “exaggerate” and “passive resistance,” suggesting Martin only used that language after lawyers guided him on his testimony. Martin acknowledged he did not use those words when speaking with internal affairs investigators in the days after the beating, adding that he was not being truthful at that time.

Nichols, who was Black, was pepper sprayed and hit with a stun gun during the traffic stop, but ran away, police video shows. The five officers, who also are Black, then beat him about a block from his home, as he called out for his mother.

Video shows the officers milling about and talking as Nichols struggled with his injuries. Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating.

An autopsy report shows Nichols — the father of a boy who is now 7 — died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and elsewhere on his body.

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

Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.

The Thai zoo home to baby hippo and internet sensation Moo Deng is patenting the pygmy

2024-09-19 15:51 Last Updated At：16:00

CHONBURI, Thailand (AP) — Only a month after Thailand's adorable baby hippo Moo Deng was unveiled on Facebook, her fame became unstoppable both domestically and internationally.

Zookeeper Atthapon Nundee has been posting cute moments of the animals in his care for about five years. He never imagined Khao Kheow Open Zoo's newborn pygmy hippo would become an internet megastar within weeks.

Cars started lining up outside the zoo well before it opened Thursday. Visitors traveled from near and far for a chance to see the pudgy, expressive 2-month-old in person at the zoo about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bangkok. The pit where Moo Deng lives with her mom, Jona, was packed almost immediately, with people cooing and cheering every time the pink-cheeked baby animal made skittish movements.

“It was beyond expectation,” Atthapon told the Associated Press. “I wanted people to know her. I wanted a lot of people to visit her, or watch her online, or leave fun comments. I never would’ve thought (of this).”

Moo Deng, which literally means “bouncy pork” in Thai, is a type of meatball. The name was chosen by fans via a poll on social media, and it matches her other siblings: Moo Toon (stewed pork) and Moo Waan (sweet pork). There is also a common hippo at the zoo named Kha Moo (stewed pork leg).

“She’s such a little lump. I want to ball her up and swallow her whole!” said Moo Deng fan Areeya Sripanya while visiting the zoo Thursday.

Already, Moo Deng has been made into memes. Artists are drawing cartoons based on her. Social media platform X even featured her in its official account’s post.

With all that fame, zoo director Narongwit Chodchoi said they have begun patenting and trademarking “Moo Deng the hippo” to prevent the animal from being commercialized by anyone else. "After we do this, we will have more income to support activities that will make the animals’ lives better,” he said.

“The benefits we get will return to the zoo to improve the life of all animals here.”

The zoo sits on 800 hectares (almost 2,000 acres) of land and is home to more than 2,000 animals. It runs breeder programs for many endangered species like Moo Deng's. The pygmy hippopotamus that's native to West Africa is threatened by poaching and loss of habitat. There are only 2,000-3,000 of them left in the wild.

To help fund the initiative, the zoo is making Moo Deng shirts and pants that will be ready for sale at the end of the month, with more merchandise to come.

Narongwit believes a factor of Moo Deng's fame is her name, which compliments her energetic and chaotic personality captured in Atthapon's creative captions and video clips.

Appropriately, Moo Deng likes to “deng,” or bounce, and Atthapon got a lot of cute and funny moments or her giddy bouncing on social media. Even when she's not bouncing, the hippo is endlessly cute — squirming as Atthapon tries to wash her, biting him while he was trying to play with her, calmly closing her eyes as he rubs her pinkish cheeks or her chubby belly.

Atthapon, who has worked at the zoo for eight years taking care of hippos, sloths, capybaras and binturongs, said baby hippos are usually more playful and energetic, and they become calmer as they get older.

The zoo saw a spike in visitors since Moo Deng’s fame — so much that the zoo now has to limit public access to the baby's enclosure to 5-minute windows throughout the day during weekends.

Narongwit said the zoo has been receiving over 4,000 visitors during a weekday, up from around just 800 people, and more than 10,000 during a weekend, up from around 3,000 people.

But the fame has also brought some hostile visitors to Moo Deng, who only wakes up ready to play about two hours a day. Some videos showed visitors splashing water or throwing things at the sleeping Moo Deng to try to wake her up. The hippo pit now has a warning sign against throwing things at Moo Deng — posted prominently at the front in Thai, English and Chinese.

Narongwit said the zoo would take action under the animal protection law if people mistreat the animal. But clips emerged of people treating Moo Deng poorly, and the backlash was fierce. The zoo director said that since then, they haven’t seen anyone doing it again.

For fans who can't make the journey or are discouraged after seeing the crowds for Moo Deng, the Khao Kheow Open Zoo set up cameras and plan to start a 24-hour live feed of the baby hippo in the coming week.