Sixth Memphis officer 'relieved of duty' and police unit that fatally beat Tyre Nichols disbanded
Robert Moore reports on the tense situation in Memphis after the death of Tyre Nichols
Warning: Article contains details some readers may find upsetting
A sixth Memphis Police Department officer has been disciplined for his involvement in the brutal beating and arrest of Tyre Nichols, it has been revealed on Monday.
Mr Nichols died in hospital on January 10, three days after he was pulled over in his car and savagely beaten by five officers.
The 29-year-old FedEx worker was a father-of-one and has been described by friends as being "joyful and lovable", with a passion for photography.
Five black police officers - Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith - were fired on January 20 after an internal investigation into their treatment of Mr Nichols.
The officers have been charged with second-degree murder, two counts of official misconduct, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of official oppression and one count of aggravated assault.
Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said on Monday that a white officer, Preston Hemphill, was relieved of duty shortly after the arrest of Mr Nichols.
She added that the information on disciplinary action taken against Hemphill was not immediately released because he was not fired and the department typically gives out information about officers who are relieved of duty after an investigation ends.
On body camera footage from the initial stop, Hemphill is heard saying that he had stunned Mr Nichols and saying: “I hope they stomp his a**.”
Lee Gerald, who is the lawyer for Hemphill, said in a statement that Hemphill was the third officer at a traffic stop that preceded the violent arrest and that he activated his body camera.
But Hemphill was not at the scene where Mr Nichols was beaten, he said.
Two Memphis Fire Department workers were also removed from duty over Mr Nichols’ arrest.
While two Shelby County sheriff's deputies have been relieved of duty without pay while their conduct is investigated.
On Saturday, the Memphis police chief disbanded the city's so-called Scorpion unit - a day after a series of harrowing videos of the beating of Mr Nichols were released by authorities.
The videos, taken from body cameras worn by the officers on the night, showed the moment they held Mr Nichols down and struck him with their fists, boots and batons while he could be heard crying out for his mother.
The officers continued to beat him even after he collapsed and it takes more than 20 minutes after the attack before any sort of medical attention was provided.
During the wait for an ambulance, officers can been seen joking with each other.
They can be heard complaining that a handheld radio was ruined, that someone lost a flashlight, and that multiple officers were caught in the pepper spray used against Mr Nichols.
Protestors marching though downtown Memphis on Saturday cheered when they heard that the Scorpion unit had been dissolved.
The unit had been composed of three teams of around 30 officers whose stated aim is to target violent offenders in areas beset by high crime.
The name Scorpion stands for: Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace In Our Neighbourhoods.
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