MEMPHIS, Tenn. – An FBI agent who interviewed two former Memphis police officers on trial in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols testified Thursday that they accepted accountability for participating.
FBI Special Agent Anthony Householder took the stand in the federal trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to charges of excessive force, failure to intervene, and obstructing justice through witness tampering. Two other former officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., have testified after pleading guilty to depriving Nichols of his civil rights.
Householder said he interviewed Bean and Smith as part of the FBI’s investigation into the January 2023 beating.
Householder said Smith told him that he and Martin both punched Nichols. Smith said he should have stopped Martin from punching Nichols, Householder said.
Smith added that he didn’t tell emergency medical technicians about punches delivered to Nichols because he thought Nichols would be able to tell them himself, Householder said. Nichols died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating.
The officers used pepper spray and a Taser on Nichols, who was Black, during a traffic stop, but the 29-year-old ran away, police video shows. The five officers, who also are Black, then punched, kicked and hit him about a block from his home, as he called out for his mother. Video also shows the officers milling about and even laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries.
Smith “took ownership” and said he had failed, Householder testified. The FBI agent also acknowledged that Smith cried during the interview.
“He was certainly remorseful,” Householder said.
Bean also accepted responsibility and told Householder that he had previously omitted information about the beating because he did not want to be labeled a “snitch,” the FBI agent testified.
“He didn’t want to throw his team under the bus,” Householder said.
Householder said he did not record the interviews. Under questioning by Bean’s lawyer, John Keith Perry, Householder acknowledged that some agents do record such interviews, which are summarized by FBI agents and known as proffers. But the recordings are not required, Householder said.
Taylor Chesser, a nurse who treated Nichols in the emergency room, said he was in cardiac arrest and not breathing when he arrived at the hospital. Chesser said medical providers eventually were able to restore his heart beat.
Nichols was “dead until we intervened,” Chesser said.
Prosecutors rested their case after her testimony.
Lawyers for the three officers then requested an acquittal based on claims that prosecutors have failed to present enough evidence. U.S. District Judge Mark Norris did not immediately rule on the requests Thursday.
Earlier Thursday, Mills testified he had not previously seen Bean nor Smith participate in the “street tax,” which is police slang for punishing people who run away from police. Prosecutors maintain officers employed the “street tax” or “run tax ” against Nichols.
The officers were part of a since-disbanded crime suppression unit. Under cross-examination from Smith's lawyer, Martin Zummach, Mills said he got to know Smith well in the two years they rode together with the Scorpion Unit. Mills said he had not previously seen Smith abuse people and Smith would not tolerate other officers mistreating suspects.
Mills, who used pepper spray on Nichols and hit him with a baton, said it’s possible that the beating could have ended if one of the officers had said to stop.
Mills, who cried on the stand and apologized during testimony earlier in the week, said Thursday that he “couldn’t hold it no more” after seeing the video of the beating.
“I wasn’t going to stand and say I did right,” Mills said.
Bean, Haley and Smith face up to life in prison if convicted.
The five officers also have been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set.
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Associated Press reporter Kimberlee Kruesi contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.