MEMPHIS — One of the former officers charged with fatally beating a Black motorist last year testified in the federal civil rights trial of his former colleagues this week, offering the first insider account of the actions of police caught on camera using force against Tyre Nichols.
When officers yanked Nichols out of his vehicle and later struck him multiple times, Nichols “was helpless and he wasn’t a threat,” Martin said Tuesday in response to a prosecutor’s question.
He testified that he and the other officers had an unspoken agreement to lie about Nichols’s actions and the extent of their use of force.
Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx employee with a young son, died in a Memphis hospital three days after the beating. Photos of his injuries and videos of his treatment at the hands of the officers sparked protests and demands for change.
Martin, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith and Desmond Mills Jr. were charged with murder in state court as well as federal civil rights and conspiracy violations.
Both Martin and Mills have agreed to plea deals in the federal case, and prosecutors have recommended sentences not to exceed 40 years for Martin and 15 years for Mills. The other officers — if convicted of excessive force, deliberate indifference, witness tampering and conspiracy to witness tamper — could face life in prison.
The trial is in its second week and is expected to last into October.
On the witness stand, Martin said he asked for assistance in making a “felony stop” after seeing Nichols speed up to beat a red light Jan. 7, 2023, even though he had not observed Nichols commit a felony or found any warrant issued in the name of the vehicle’s registered owner.
Nichols escaped arrest during the initial traffic stop and ran from police. When officers caught up to him, Martin joined in kicking Nichols while he was being restrained as a form of punishment.
“I was already angry because he ran, so I figured that’s what he should get,” Martin said.
The officers later told investigators that Nichols had driven into oncoming traffic before they initiated a traffic stop, grabbed an officer’s gun on his hip during the ensuing struggle, swung at them with his fists and appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
None of those accounts were factual, Martin told jurors. But the officers stuck by their stories.
“I’m not gonna tell on them and they’re not gonna tell on me. It was understood that we were gonna do what we needed to do,” Martin said as Bean, Haley and Smith, seated behind their attorneys, looked on. “I exaggerated [Nichols’s] actions to justify mine.”
Martin’s testimony, which began Monday afternoon and continued Tuesday, included his interpretation of body camera and surveillance footage of the encounter, as prosecutors asked Martin to analyze his own actions and that of his fellow Scorpion Unit officers. Martin described the bulk of the force used against Nichols as inconsistent with Memphis police policy and training.
During cross-examination, an attorney for Bean pressed Martin to describe the terms of his plea agreement, making clear to the jury Martin was cooperating with prosecutors and testifying in court in exchange for a more lenient sentencing recommendation.
In an earlier exchange with a prosecutor, Martin said his motivation was about more than reduced prison time.
“I’m just here to accept my punishment for my wrongdoing,” he testified. “I can’t sit here and live with a lie. The truth needs to come out. It was eating me up inside to live with a lie when I know what I did was wrong. Whatever you see on the video, and whatever I’m saying, is the truth. I’m ready to just get this off of me.”
