According to the hearing documents, Haley was the first officer to pull Nichols from the car and Martin was close behind him.
"(Haley) exited (his) unmarked vehicle, stopped in an opposing traffic lane, and (Haley) forced (Nichols) out of his vehicle while using loud profanity and wearing a black sweatshirt hoodie over your head," the statement of charges against Haley read. "(Haley) never told (Nichols) the purpose of the vehicle stop or that he was under arrest."
Martin arrived and began to restrain Nichols, claiming that Nichols was reaching for his gun. Video footage from the traffic stop did not show Nichols reaching for any officers' weapons.
"Audio...did not capture (Nichols) using profanity or displaying any violent threats," the document read. "However, (Martin) made assaultive statements."
After being pepper sprayed, Nichols jumped up and ran away, with Hemphill firing his taser. It appears to hit Nichols, who seems to pull the prongs out while taking off his jacket.
Who was at the beating?
Smith, Bean and Mills, Jr., were the first three officers to reach Nichols after he had run from the traffic stop.
After the officers restrained Nichols, Haley arrived and began kicking Nichols.
"As three of (Haley's) partners were attempting to handcuff (Nichols), (Haley) ran up and kicked (Nichols) in the upper torso area," the document read.
Bean and Smith then held Nichols' arms, according to the internal investigators, while Mills, Jr., pepper sprayed and then hit Nichols with a baton.
In body camera footage, an officer can be seen extending his baton and saying, "I'm gonna baton the (expletive) out of you," prior to hitting Nichols.
Haley and Martin were 'deceitful' about Nichols incident
Both Haley and Martin were cited for violating MPD's truthfulness policy by filing statements that are false and do not match with video and audio from the traffic stop and beating.
According to the department's internal charging documents, both of the officers "reported the subject (Nichols) grabbed (Martin's) duty weapon before (Martin and Haley) placed him on the ground." However, footage did not show that.
The duo also did not report that they had punched or kicked Nichols — instead referring to the hits as "body blows."
Investigators from the Inspectional Services Bureau (ISB) had asked both former officers if the details they listed were correct. Both Haley and Martin said the reports were correct.
A multitude of body camera, miscellaneous violations
Although each of the five former officers were hit with many of the same violations, some received the same charges for different reasons.
The officers who spoke with RowVaughn Wells, Nichols' mother, the night he was beaten were not named previously. In the administrative hearing documents, Mills, Jr., was identified as one of the officers who told Wells that her son was at the hospital.
According to the documents, Mills, Jr., along with an unnamed supervisor, went to speak with Wells.
"When (Mills, Jr.) changed location to speak with the victim’s mother, (he) and the supervisor did not obtain her contact information and refused to provide an accurate account of her son’s encounter with police or his condition," Mills, Jr.'s statement of charges said. "Your on-duty conduct was unjustly, blatantly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sworn public servant."
All five of the officers were also given body camera violations. Both Haley and Martin did not have their body cameras on during the initial traffic stop. Later, Martin took his vest off, with the camera attached, and left it in his unmarked squad car.
Mills, Jr. and Bean had their body cameras on while officers were beating Nichols, but both took their vests and cameras off later. Smith did not have his body camera on during the entire event.
Haley also violated Memphis Police Department policy about spreading police information when he took and sent two pictures of Nichols after he was beaten and was leaning against a police cruiser. Haley told internal investigators that he sent those pictures to five people. A sixth person also received it, but the documents were not clear who that was, or how they received the pictures.
There was also a personal conduct violation filed against Haley, which the other officers also received, that mentioned Haley was speaking on his personal cell phone with someone when the initial traffic stop happened. The person Haley was on the phone with "overheard the police encounter," the statement of charges said.
Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal, a member of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton .
