sixth Memphis police officer sacked

A sixth police officer involved in the fatal beating of African-American Tire Nichols, for which five black officers have already been fired and charged with murder, has in turn been fired, Memphis police said on Friday (February 3).

Preston Hemphill, a white police officer on duty in this major southern US city since 2018, “broke many rules”focusing in particular on “personal conduct”, ” sincerity “ and the use of the taser, police said in a statement.

This sixth police officer had been suspended from his duties at the start of the investigation, but this had not been made public until Monday.

Beaten to death

Tire Nichols, 29, was arrested on January 7 by agents from a special unit in Memphis, in the southern United States, for a traffic violation according to the police.

But beaten relentlessly, so much so that he had become unrecognizable according to his family, he died three days later in hospital.

The unbearable images of the arrest were broadcast, without cuts, by the largest channels in the country, raising fears of a social conflagration to the authorities.

During the funeral of the young man on Wednesday, the speakers, who included the American vice-president Kamala Harris, rose up against the police violence.