Tyre Nichols death: Memphis police officer pleads guilty to federal charges

A former Memphis police officer pleaded guilty to state and federal charges in the death of Tyre Nichols, the first of the five officers to change their plea in connection to the fatal traffic stop.

Desmond Mills Jr., 33, switched his plea to guilty during a hearing at the Memphis federal courthouse on Thursday. The plea is part of a larger agreement to plead guilty to state charges as well.

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Mills pleaded guilty to four counts of excessive force and obstruction of justice charges. Prosecutors are recommending a 15-year sentence for Mills, according to NBC News. The state charges include second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct, and official oppression.

AP

“Desmond Mills’ plea today is entirely consistent with our allegations in the civil lawsuit against the City of Memphis,” attorneys for Nichols’s family said in a statement. “We stand strong in our belief that these officers, including Mills, acted at the direction of a policy that not only violated civil rights of innocent civilians but which caused needless pain to many.”

The five officers were part of the Memphis Police Department’s Scorpion team, a specialized crime unit deployed to deter violence in the city’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods. The unit was created 14 months before Nichols’s death and was disbanded after the charges against the officers were announced.

Nichols’s family said the Scorpion team directed officers “like Mills to commit baseless and horrific acts of violence against innocent individuals like Tyre Nichols.”

Chris Day/AP

“We vigorously restate our assertion that those policies were behind what ultimately caused Mills and four other Scorpion officers to kill Tyre Nichols,” the family’s attorneys said. “Mills was not an individual actor, and as our civil suit continues to unfold, that will become even more apparent.”

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Nichols died in January from injuries suffered during a traffic stop that led to the five officers using force against him. Footage involving the traffic stop documented the officers kicking and pepper spraying Nichols, with officers discussing their different actions during the altercation and complaining about their injuries.

The other officers involved in the incident were Emmitt Martin III, 31, Tadarrius Bean, 24, Demetrius Haley, 30, and Justin Smith, 28. As of now, they have not switched their plea of not guilty to second-degree murder and various other state charges.