Ex-MPD officer falsely reported Tyre Nichols' stop, had 'personally owned' handcuffs

Ex-Memphis police officer Preston Hemphill lied about seeing reckless driving and that Tyre Nichols put up a fight during the traffic stop that eventually led to him being beaten, newly obtained documents show.

Hemphill also had two sets of "personally owned" handcuffs the night he and other officers from the Memphis Police Department pulled Nichols from his car. Department policy requires its officers to have department-issued handcuffs.

The documents, obtained through a public records request, were sent to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) by Memphis police in an attempt to have Hemphill decertified. MPD also sent a request to POST to decertify five other officers implicated in Nichols' death.

The documents include the statement of charges for Memphis police's internal investigation and subsequent hearing. Hemphill was fired Feb. 3. He has not been criminally charged.

Hemphill faced violations based on his personal conduct, compliance with regulations, truthfulness, and inventory and processing recovered property, the documents said.

According to the hearing officer's statement, Hemphill wrote in his response to a resistance report — which officers are required to fill out after using physical force — that Nichols was driving recklessly, but that Hemphill never saw Nichols driving that way.

Hemphill also wrote that Nichols "started fighting with [Hemphill] and with [his] partner." At that point, Hemphill said he used a Taser.

"The video footage does not corroborate [Hemphill's] statement," the document read. "Video evidence shows [Nichols] was not resisting, but was running away from you while you attempted to tase him."

In body camera footage belonging to Hemphill, he could be heard saying "I hope they stomp his ass," after firing his Taser at Nichols.

"[Nichols] was not armed, did not initiate any physical force or verbal threats, was not physically resisting arrest, and did not impose an immediate threat to you or others," Deputy Chief Michael Hardy, the administrative hearing officer, wrote in his statement.

The document also said that Hemphill, like former officers Demetrius Haley and Emmitt Martin III, lied about Nichols reaching for Martin's gun.

The administrative hearing files did not mention Hemphill arriving at the second location, where officers beat Nichols.

Five now-former MPD officers — Haley, Martin, Justin Smith, Tadarrius Bean and Desmond Mills, Jr. — were indicted for their roles in Nichols' death.

Nichols was pulled over the evening of Jan. 7, where officers pulled him from his car and began pepper spraying him. Nichols eventually ran but was caught by police less than 100 yards from his mother's house.

Officers then began to punch, kick, pepper spray and hit Nichols with a baton as he called for his mother. Officers could be seen on SkyCop camera footage milling about the area after Nichols was beaten and leaning against the side of a squad cruiser for minutes before Nichols was taken to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition.

Nichols, a 29-year-old skateboard enthusiast and father of one, died there three days later.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy on Thursday announced a review of all cases involving the other five officers involved in the traffic stop. Hemphill wasn't named or cited in the announcement.

Hemphill's background revealed in POST documents

The POST documents also include a brief list of Hemphill's prior policy violations. A request made to Memphis Police by The Commercial Appeal for Hemphill's personnel file has not been fulfilled.

Including only the type of the violations and the punishment attached, with no context or detail as to what happened to trigger the violations, Hemphill was cited twice before.

The earliest infraction happened in June 2019, when Hemphill violated the policy against "rough or careless handling of equipment." He was given a written reprimand for the violation.

In January 2022, Hemphill was given a written reprimand and eight hours of remedial driving for damage sustained to his police issued vehicle.

Other records show that Hemphill was first hired by Memphis police in June 2019 and he failed his final physical fitness profile as an officer. He was subsequently moved to a role as a civilian employee in November of that year.

About four months later, Hemphill was transferred to a law enforcement position. He would remain in that role for almost three years before he was fired Feb. 3, 2023.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tyre Nichols: Ex-Memphis officer wrote false reports, had own handcuffs