Out of the five former Memphis police officers criminally charged in the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols, one of them threw in the towel on the fight to prove his innocence. The former cop has now decided to plead guilty.
Desmond Mills Jr. was one of five officers with the SCORPION gang unit who got smacked with state charges of second-degree murder and an exhaustive list of federal charges. Mills and the others are accused of brutally beating Tyre Nichols the evening of Jan 7. after he was pulled over for alleged reckless driving. Nichols’ injuries were so severe, he was unrecognizable to his family and eventually, died three days later. Black People Can Be Racist Too, Say Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone Black People Can Be Racist Too, Say Authors Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone The Infamous Five Cops Who Beat Tyre Nichols are in Even More Trouble DOJ Investigating Police Department That Killed Tyre Nichols
Along with his former colleagues, Mills originally pleaded not guilty to all charges. However, according to a recent court filing, Mills had a hearing set Thursday to change to a guilty plea on his federal charges, per NBC News. Each officer faces life in prison if convicted. Mills is looking at no more than 15 years in prison and no parole.
Read the details from the hearing via The Department of Justice:
Mills admitted to repeatedly and unjustifiably striking Nichols with a baton and to failing to intervene in other officers’ use of force against Nichols. Mills said he watched another officer repeatedly punch Nichols in the head while two other officers restrained Nichols. Mills admitted that he did not provide any medical aid to Nichols after the beating, though he knew that Nichols had a serious medical need. He did not alert MPD or Memphis Fire Department EMTs that Nichols had been struck in the head and body. In addition, Mills participated in conversations with other officers in which they discussed, using force against Nichols, hitting Nichols to make him fall, and believing they were on the verge of killing Nichols when they saw that Nichols did not fall from the blows. Mills admitted to making false statements in connection with the arrest of Nichols, including telling his supervisor that they had done “everything by the book” and providing false information in his statements to an MPD detective tasked with writing the incident report.
Finally, Mills submitted an MPD report that provided a false account of the force used on Nichols, including a claim that Mills saw Nichols “aggressively resisting” officers. Instead of admitting that he had seen an officer repeatedly punch Nichols in the head while Nichols was restrained by two other officers, Mills reported only that “Nichols was eventually put into custody.”
Mills’ only (and quite embarrassing) defense before this point was that he was not “able to see” because the officers accidentally pepper-sprayed themselves during the beating.
“Some of the questions that remain will require a focus on Desmond Mills’ individual actions; on what Desmond knew and what he was able to see when he arrived late to the scene; on what Desmond knew and what he was able to see after he was pepper-sprayed; and on whether Desmond’s actions crossed the lines that were crossed by other officers during this incident,” attorney Blake Ballin said in a statement via The New York Post.
Mills along with Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith face federal counts of obstruction of justice through witness tampering, conspiracy to witness tampering, deprivation of rights under the color of the law through excessive force and failure to intervene and through deliberate indifference. Their trial is scheduled for May of next year.
By Kalyn Womack
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