MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A cybercrime expert with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation testified Wednesday that a former Memphis police officer charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols took a cellphone photo of Nichols as he sat on the ground, propped up against a police car and struggling with serious injuries.
TBI Special Agent Derek Miller testified in the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges including second-degree murder. The three defendants already face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a January 2023 traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother just steps from his home.
Footage of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in the U.S. and directed intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, a majority-Black city.