Former Memphis officers convicted of witness tampering in Tyre Nichols beating death

Three former Memphis police officers were found guilty of witness tampering following the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols in January 2023. John Yang reports.
Amna Nawaz:
Three former Memphis police officers were found guilty of witness tampering following the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after a January 2023 traffic stop.
John Yang is here with more.
John Yang:
Amna, those three officers, Demetrius — I’m sorry — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith, were convicted of trying to cover up their actions. Haley was also convicted of violating Nichols’ civil rights by causing bodily injury, a lesser charge than what he was indicted on. And Bean and Smith were acquitted of civil rights charges.
They were among the five former officers who fatally punched, kicked and hit Nichols in 2023 after he ran from a traffic stop. Haley’s bodycam and surveillance video of the fatal encounter was shown almost every day of the three week trial.
After the verdict was read, Tyre Nichols’ father said that the family was all elated. He said: “This is justice. It was a long time coming.”
Now, the three also face state murder charges.
Thaddeus Johnson teaches criminal justice and criminology at Georgia State University. He’s also a former ranking Memphis police officer.
Thaddeus, what do you make of this verdict, sort of this split decision?
Thaddeus Johnson, Georgia State University:
Well, it makes sense.
And this is what we actually want in our court system, to cater the punishments or the charges for the actual crimes. And so, based on the evidence on what the jury, who are more than capable, were able to judge against, they came up with a verdict that everyone didn’t violate civil rights, but they did do something that was really illegal, that was a distrust and a breach of trust of the position that they held.
And those charges (Audio gap)
John Yang:
It’s interesting. The defense actually played the tape to show — to try to minimize their client’s actions. Where does this fit now in the ongoing conversation about policing and police violence?
Thaddeus Johnson:
You know, that’s a very good point.
And a couple of things jumped out to me in this whole process. Now, first of all, yes, the officers bear responsibility and blame, but their actions didn’t occur in a vacuum. You must think about broader about official wellness, our promotional processes, how we reward officers on the pathway to leadership and specialized units, and even the quality of our officers and their expanse of control.
I think two things really stood out. Mr. Martin noted that he was upset by a lack of arrests and that he may have also struggled with PTSD. Well, these things tell me that our officers need help. They need to be put in positions where they can win. They need to make sure that they have the capability to cope with all the things that they see.
And, lastly, we can’t really have police reform if we still make arrests the number one metric. It’s a very small part of the job. And what happens is oftentimes we have low public safety value. And we often turn our citizens into commodities when we have these reward structures emphasizing stops and arrests, instead of partners in public safety.
So those were two things that really jumped out that showed we have to address these things if we want to have the policing that we deserve as American citizens.
John Yang:
And how easily are those things changed? Does this go back to training?
Thaddeus Johnson:
Oftentimes, it goes back to training.
But let me say, these officers went beyond the scope of their training. I trained in the Memphis Police Academy. This was not what we were trained to do. We’re not trained to use deadly force strikes above the head if it wasn’t a deadly force situation. We were not trained not to provide and render aid to our citizens no matter what the circumstances are.
So this is a selection process. And this must — and a culture process, whether it’s within the broader police department or those subcultures within those specialized units. But, again, it’s that running and gunning, those metrics that make up a small portion of policing, where, like, community engagement is not rewarded.
If we want our police to engage our citizens in that way, we have to reward them in that way and provide them pathways to promotions and pathways to other specialized units as well. So that’s a linchpin to reform if we want to move forward.
John Yang:
Is there a lesson for other departments in this, quickly?
Thaddeus Johnson:
Absolutely, that the federal government — reform is a very local matter, but the federal government will step in and show that we will hold our officers accountable.
Murder someone or abuse is one thing, but violating their inalienable civil rights is another. And we have to make sure that they are held accountable across the full spectrum.
John Yang:
Thaddeus Johnson from Georgia State University, thank you very much.
Thaddeus Johnson:
Thank you.