Three paramedics who responded to the fatal beating of Tire Nichols were fired Monday after an internal investigation, the Memphis Fire Department said.
Robert Long, JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker were found to have violated several department policies in their patient response to Nichols on Jan. 7, the department said in a statement.
“Your actions or inactions on the scene that night do not meet the expectations of the Memphis Fire Department and do not reflect the excellent service that the men and women of the Memphis Fire Department provide daily to our community,” he said.
The department was dispatched to the scene of the Nichols traffic stop at 8:31 p.m. after police called about a “pepper-sprayed person” at the scene, the department said. Long, Sandridge and Whitaker were dispatched to a second location and arrived to find Nichols leaning against a police vehicle 10 minutes after the call.
Long and Sandridge responded to Nichols, while Whitaker and a driver remained in the vehicle, the department said.
“Our investigation has concluded that the two EMTs responded based on the initial nature of the call (person being pepper sprayed) and information they were told at the scene and failed to properly assess Mr. Nichols’ patient. ” the department said.
Voicemails left at phone numbers listed for Long and Whitaker were not immediately returned Monday night. Sandridge did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Video posted from Nichols’ traffic stop showed officers exerting multiple uses of force against him, including pepper spray. The officers also appeared to hit, baton and apparently kick Nichols in the face while he was in custody, videos released Friday show.
Nichols was transported to the hospital in critical condition, where he died three days later. The cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Police initially said Nichols was pulled over for a reckless driving stop, but Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said her office found no evidence to substantiate the claim. The officers ordered Nichols to the ground, giving him conflicting orders before he got away.
The officers pursued Nichols, deploying a taser on him as he ran from the officers, according to the videos. They pepper-sprayed him repeatedly before beating him about 80 meters from his mother’s house. Nichols died three days later.
Preliminary findings in an autopsy by a forensic pathologist for Nichols’ family show that he was severely beaten before he died, attorneys for the family said. The Shelby County Medical Examiner’s Office has not released an official cause of death.
Five officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith, were fired Jan. 20 after an administrative investigation found they had violated the department’s use-of-force policy. A sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, has been “relieved of duty,” police said Monday.
Bean, Haley, Martin, Mills and Smith were 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, prosecutors announced last week. .
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
