- Evidence in Trump Documents Case Hints at ‘Ongoing Investigations,’ Filing Says The New York Times
- DOJ seeks protective order to prevent Trump from releasing classified materials amid ongoing investigation The Hill
- Special counsel seeks court order to ensure Trump and his defense don’t share materials turned over in discovery CNN
- Trump indictment: Prosecutors want to protect ‘ongoing investigations’ Business Insider
- Special counsel asks judge to keep Trump from disclosing evidence in classified documents case ABC News
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Tag Archives: investigations
How do you lose a radioactive capsule? Australian investigators are wondering too
Brisbane, Australia
CNN
—
The discovery of a tiny lost radioactive capsule beside a remote highway in Western Australia raises many questions – not least how it escaped layers of radiation-proof packaging loaded onto a moving truck.
It’s one of the many puzzling aspects of a case investigators will examine in the coming weeks as they try to piece together the timeline of the capsule’s movements from January 12, when it was packaged for transport, to February 1, when a recovery team found it by the side of the road.
The capsule – just 8 millimeters by 6 millimeters – was used in a density gauge fitted to a pipe at Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri iron ore mine to measure the flow of material through the feeder.
Rio Tinto said in a statement Monday the capsule was packaged for transit to Perth, 1,400 kilometers (870 miles away), with its presence inside the package confirmed by a Geiger counter before it was transported by a third-party contractor.
Normally, the trip would take more than 12 hours by road, but roughly two hours in, the capsule exited the vehicle as it traveled south, and somehow crossed one lane of traffic, to end up two meters (6.5 feet) from the northbound side of the two-lane highway.
Lauren Steen, general manager of Radiation Services WA, a consultancy that writes radiation management plans, said industry insiders were just as baffled as the public when they heard the capsule was missing.
“The whole team were scratching our head. We couldn’t figure out what had happened,” said Steen, whose company was not involved in its disappearance.
“If the source had been placed in a certified package and transported under all of the requirements of the code of practice, then it’s an extremely unlikely event – one-in-a-million,” she said.
The truck thought to be carrying the capsule arrived in Perth on January 16, four days after its departure from the Gudai-Darri iron ore mine. But it wasn’t until January 25, when workers from SGS Australia went to unpack the gauge for inspection, that it was discovered missing.
In a statement, SGS Australia said it had been hired by Rio Tinto to package the capsule but it had nothing to do with its transportation, which was carried out by a “specialist transporter.”
“We performed the contracted service to package the equipment at the mine site and unpackage it following transportation using qualified personnel for our customer in accordance with all standards and regulations,” it said.
“The transportation of the package, organized by our client and delegated to a specialist transporter, was not within the scope of SGS services. Our personnel noticed the loss of the source at our Perth laboratory when opening the package and reported this incident immediately.”
The name of the company contracted to transport the package has not been released.
The missing capsule triggered a six-day search along a stretch of the Great Northern Highway. Then on Wednesday morning, a car fitted with special equipment traveling south of the small town of Newman detected a higher radiation reading. Handheld devices were then used to hone in on the capsule nestled in the dirt.
In Australia, each state has its own laws regarding the handling of radioactive substances and codes of practice that comply with guidelines set by the Australian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), a government body that works closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and World Health Organization (WHO).
In Western Australia, the rules are governed by the Radiation Safety Act 1975, which Steen says is well overdue for review. “It hasn’t been rewritten since the 70s, so I think that kind of speaks for itself,” she said.
Steen said over the decades technological advancements had made the use of radiation sources within mining equipment much safer – and because it was safer, devices were being used more frequently. As of 2021, over 150 projects were operating in Western Australia, the hub of the country’s mining exports, according to the state’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy.
Under the Radiation Safety Act 1975, only specially trained and licensed operators can package radioactive substances, but different rules apply to contractors hired to transport it, Steen said.
“Any transport company can transport radioactive material provided they have got the license to do so,” she said.
Under the act that license can be obtained by attending a one-day course and passing a test certified and approved by the regulator.
The licensee must have oversight of a transportation plan submitted to the regulator but does not have to supervise the journey in person. There are no rules about the type of vehicles used for transport.
Steen says clearly something went wrong – and she hopes the results of the investigation will be shared with the radiation community so they can avoid such issues in future.
Discussion has already started about the need for tougher penalties – in WA, mishandling radioactive substances carries a fine of just 1,000 Australian dollars ($714) – a figure described as “ridiculously low” by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to reporters on Wednesday.
The rules around packaging radiation sources depend on how much radiation they emit. In some cases, the device could be encased in three layers. In the case of the capsule, the gauge could be considered one layer of protection before it was placed into an “overpack,” a container that was likely bolted shut.
In a statement, DFES said when the package was opened the gauge was found to be broken, with one of the four mounting bolts missing. Referring to the capsule, the statement added, “the source itself and all screws on the gauge were also missing.”
One theory investigators may examine is if the gauge broke and the capsule fell out of the overpack through a hole used to secure the lid.
It’s expected to be several weeks before the Radiological Council submits its report to the WA health minister. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto is carrying out its own investigation.
CEO Simon Trott said the company would be willing to reimburse the government for costs associated with the search – if requested.
WA Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said the offer was appreciated but the government would wait for the outcome of the investigation to apportion blame.
He said he didn’t know how much the search had cost but at least 100 people were involved including police, firefighters, health department and defence force personnel.
Staff from the National Emergency Management Agency, the Australian Nuclear and Science Technology Organization and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency also took part.
On Thursday, relieved DFES officials released new images of the capsule being taken to Perth where it will be safely held in a facility.
This time, it traveled in a convoy of enclosed white vehicles – with big stickers warning of the presence of a radioactive substance.
Hunter Biden demands investigations and retractions, opening new front against GOP foes
Hunter Biden’s legal team went on the offensive Wednesday, demanding state and federal investigations into the dissemination of his personal material — purported to be from his laptop — and threatening a defamation lawsuit against Fox News’ Tucker Carlson for allegedly failing to correct false statements.
The flurry of letters to the Delaware attorney general, the Department of Justice, the I.R.S. and attorneys for Fox News and Carlson represent an aggressive new strategy for the president’s son, who is facing long-running federal criminal investigations, as well as new probes promised by congressional Republicans, according to a source familiar with Biden’s approach.
“This marks a new approach by Hunter Biden and his team,” the source told CBS News. “He is not going to sit quietly by as questionable characters continue to violate his rights and media organizations peddling in lies try to defame him.”
Attorneys for Hunter Biden called for Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen to launch investigations into the actions of former computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac, former Trump advisers Rudy Giuliani and Stephen Bannon, their attorney Robert Costello and others “for whom there is considerable reason to believe violated various Delaware laws in accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden’s personal computer data.”
Brian Della Rocca, attorney for John Paul Mac Isaac told CBS News, “Having not seen the letters until now, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to review them. After skimming the letters, the only thing I see is a privileged person hiring yet another high-priced attorney to redirect attention away from his own unlawful actions.” Della Rocca said he had no other comments at this time.
The Delaware Attorney General did not reply to a request for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment. CBS News has also reached out for comment to representatives for Giuliani and Bannon, as well as Fox News.
According to Mac Isaac, Hunter Biden dropped off the computer at a store in Delaware for repairs in April 2019 and never returned to pick it up. He has said he waited the 90 days required by his store’s customer service policy before considering the laptop abandoned. In court filings, Mac Isaac stated that he turned over the computer to the FBI but also provided a copy of its contents to Costello.
Purported copies of the laptop were widely circulated by Republican operatives to attack then-candidate Joe Biden before the 2020 presidential election, and the New York Post published a series of stories from the computer data.
“This failed dirty political trick directly resulted in the exposure, exploitation, and manipulation of Mr. Biden’s private and personal information,” Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, wrote in his letters to Jennings and Olsen.
Costello, an attorney for Giuliani and Bannon, has previously defended their efforts to publicize the laptop, and said Giuliani offered to provide its hard drive to FBI agents “on several occasions, but the agents steadfastly declined.” In October 2020, Giuliani turned the drive over to Delaware authorities, who in turn handed it over to the FBI.
The computer data that was turned over to the FBI showed no evidence of tampering or fabrication, according to an independent review commissioned by CBS News.
But Lowell cited media reports indicating “[m]ore recently, downstream recipients of what has been purported to be Mr. Biden’s hard drive have reported anomalies in the data, suggesting manipulation of it.”
Among those Hunter Biden wants investigated are Garrett Ziegler, a former Trump administration aide, who was also the subject of a letter sent by Lowell to Robert Malone, the I.R.S’s director of tax exempt organizations. A limited liability corporation associated with Ziegler operates Marco Polo, a self-described nonprofit devoted to “exposing corruption” that has zeroed in on Biden’s laptop.
Lowell wrote that Marco Polo is “little more than a thinly disguised political operation to attack the Biden administration and the Biden family.”
Ziegler told CBS News in a statement that the “letter to the IRS about Marco Polo is full of speculations and basic misunderstandings about the case law surrounding 501(c)(3) organizations.” He called it a “desperate attempt by “Hunter and his family to get the attention off of their crimes.”
The IRS did not reply to a request for comment.
In another letter sent Wednesday, Biden attorney Bryan Sullivan demanded that Fox News and Tucker Carlson devote airtime to retracting statements made about Biden paying “rent” to his father, “in what Mr. Carlson implied was essentially a money laundering scheme to finance President Biden’s lifestyle prior to his election … and alluding to Mr. Biden having unauthorized access to classified documents because of his presence at President Biden’s house.” Sullivan writes that the claims were false, and even after others acknowledged as much, Carlson continued to make them.
The letter, which cites California’s defamation statute, notes that the Daily Caller website retracted an article that made similar claims.
Tyre Nichols’ death: First police report in Tyre Nichols case does not match video of deadly beating
Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic descriptions of violence.
CNN
—
An initial police report filed in the hours after the Tyre Nichols traffic stop suggested he was violent and made claims that were contradicted by video later released by police.
Nichols was subdued on the ground yet continuously beaten after the stop by Memphis police on January 7. He died three days later.
The initial police report said Nichols “started to fight” with officers and at one point grabbed the gun of one of the detectives. But neither claim was substantiated by police videos released last week.
And despite the fact that the videos don’t appear to show Nichols fighting back, the report identified Nichols as a suspect in an aggravated assault.
The police report did not mention the officers punching and kicking Nichols.
One of the officers at the scene – who has since been charged with second-degree murder – was described in the report as a “victim.”
The report also claimed Nichols, who was Black, was pulled over for reckless driving at a high speed – another claim that is not substantiated by video of the encounter.
While authorities have not released the police report, a photo of a police report was posted by a controversial Memphis radio talk show host. The police report account was first reported by The New York Times.
Shelby County District Attorney spokesperson Erica Williams told CNN “the DA does have a report that has that same account of events.”
The report said Nichols was irate and sweating profusely when he got out of his vehicle and refused lawful detention by law enforcement. The use of pepper spray and a Taser stun gun had no effect on Nichols, the report stated.
The report also listed E. Martin as a “victim.” One of the five officers charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death is Emmitt Martin III.
It’s not clear who wrote the police report, which references both the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
CNN’s calls to Memphis police have not been returned.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office refused to comment on the statements in the police report or the sheriff department’s role in it.
“The release of reports in connection with the investigation is unauthorized and the Sheriff’s Office cannot comment,” spokesperson John Morris told CNN.
While the report doesn’t reflect what is shown on the police body cam footage and Skycop street camera footage of the encounter. it does seem to reflect what the officers were discussing after Nichols was subdued and handcuffed by police the night of the incident.
CNN has previously reported that the initial public statement from police was also contradicted by the videos.
For the first time since Nichols was fatally beaten, his brother Jamal Dupree is speaking publicly about the horror and anguish his family lives with every day.
“It’s like a never-ending nightmare,” Dupree told “CNN This Morning” on Tuesday.
Dupree has not watched the video of his 29-year-old brother getting beaten with a baton and kicked in the head. He said he doesn’t need to see it.
“As soon as I seen them photos from him in the hospital, I already knew that they treated my brother like an animal,” Dupree said. “They beat on him like he was nothing. I don’t have to watch the video to know that.”
After public outrage over the gruesome video, officials have announced more firings or disciplinary action against public servants at the scene.
In addition to the firings of five Black Memphis police officers – all of whom face murder charges – officials have announced the firings of three Memphis Fire Department personnel.
Two sheriff’s deputies have been put on leave. And the police department acknowledged Monday that two more police officers had been put on leave.
“We are looking at everybody who had any kind of involvement in this incident,” from the officers and paramedics on scene to those who filed the paperwork, Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy said Monday.
Prosecutors moved “extraordinarily quick” with charges against the five officers “primarily responsible for the death of Tyre Nichols,” the prosecutor said. “As to everybody else, it’s going to take some time as we do that investigation. But I assure you the investigation’s ongoing.”
The release of gruesome footage of the attack on Nichols again horrified a nation that’s faced a steady stream of videos of police violence, especially against people of color.
The deadly encounter started with police pulling Nichols over for what they initially said was suspected reckless driving and unfolds at two locations.
Video released Friday shows Nichols running away after officers yanked him out of a car and used pepper spray and a Taser to try to make him lie prone; and then officers catching up to him at a second location, where he is repeatedly kicked and beaten.
After his hands are restrained and he’s left slumped to the ground, roughly 23 minutes pass before a gurney arrives at the scene. Nichols died at a hospital of his injuries three days later, authorities said.
Dupree said he felt it was his duty to protect his little brother. Now, he says he’s racked with guilt because he couldn’t save him.
“My brother was trying to cooperate with them,” Dupree said.
“If I was there, they would have had to kill me, too. Because I would have fought all of them.”
He said he wants everyone to remember how much joy Nichols brought to the world.
“My brother’s legacy is everywhere right now. Everybody knows that my brother was an innocent person. … He cared about people. He put people before he put himself. He was very selfless. He was just, all-around, a great person to be around,” Dupree said.
“It should never happen to anybody, but at the same time, when you see a person like that, and you know a person like that, it just takes a toll. … The world is going to miss a person like that.”
Five Memphis police officers were fired January 20 and then indicted last week. They face seven counts, including: second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated kidnapping in possession of a deadly weapon, official misconduct and official oppression.
The five officers – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr. – are expected to be arraigned February 17.
Martin’s attorney, William Massey, said “no one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die.”
Mills’ attorney, Blake Ballin, said Mills arrived later than other officers and his vision was impaired by the pepper spray used during the traffic stop.
“Some of the questions that remain will require a focus on Desmond Mills’ individual actions,” and “on whether Desmond’s actions crossed the lines that were crossed by other officers during this incident,” Ballin said.
Attorneys for the other former officers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Monday, police said a sixth and a seventh officer were placed on leave with the other five on January 8 – and those two officers still are the subjects of an internal investigation.
Police identified one of the two officers as Preston Hemphill, who is White. Police spokesperson Kimberly Elder declined to say whether Hemphill is being paid.
The city has released body-camera and pole-camera surveillance footage of the initial traffic stop, as well as the beating at the second site. One of the body-cam videos reveals Hemphill – at the site of the initial traffic stop – fired a Taser at Nichols and eventually said after Nichols ran: “One of them prongs hit the bastard.”
Hemphill twice says to an officer who was with him: “I hope they stomp his ass.”
That body-cam video does not show Hemphill at the second site, where the county’s district attorney has said Nichols was beaten and suffered his serious injuries.
Hemphill’s attorney, Lee Gerald, said his client – who hasn’t been charged – “was never present at the second scene.”
The seventh officer has not been publicly identified.
“Officer Preston Hemphill and other officer’s actions and inactions have been and continue to be the subject of this investigation,” Memphis police said Monday.
“There are numerous charges still developing that are impending.”
The Memphis Fire Department announced three employees were fired over their response to the incident.
Emergency medical technicians Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker have been terminated, the fire department said Monday.
The three were responding to a report of “a person pepper sprayed” when they arrived at the scene of the deadly beating and found Nichols on the ground, the fire department said.
The department’s investigation found that “the two EMTs responded based on the initial nature of the call and information they were told on the scene and failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols,” the fire chief said.
Whitaker had remained in the fire truck, the department said.
Pole-camera video released Friday showed that after the EMTs arrived and before the ambulance arrived, first responders repeatedly walked away from Nichols, with Nichols intermittently falling onto his side.
Additionally, two deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office were put on leave last week pending an investigation, after video of the incident was released.
“I have concerns about two deputies who appeared on scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols,” Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said Friday.
After the fire department firings were announced Monday, an attorney for Tyre Nichols’ family, Antonio Romanucci said, “everybody on that scene was complicit in this man’s death, in one way, shape, form, or another, somebody failed Tyre Nichols.”
“They either failed by using excessive force; they failed him by severely beating him; they failed him by not intervening; they failed him by not rendering aid,” the attorney said Monday.
He said Nichols’ family still is trying to absorb the breadth of this multi-agency investigation, while also dealing with the loss of their loved one.
“This is just such a gross collapse of the system that we are supposed to trust, that it really is unspeakable,” Romanucci said.
A Memphis city council member said much more work needs to be done.
“We need to make sure that we go through our police department and see where we were weak, what happened with our procedures, what happened with our oversight,” council member Jeff Warren said.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it. And I think we’re going to find there’s more to this as we go into the trial,” he said. “I don’t think we’re on top of this yet.”
DOJ tells GOP lawmakers it will not hand over most Biden special counsel probe documents until investigation complete
CNN
—
The Justice Department told Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on Monday that it will not provide most of the information he requested about the ongoing special counsel investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified material until that probe is complete, according to a new letter obtained by CNN.
In the letter, DOJ reiterates that it will uphold its longstanding practice of withholding information that could endanger or compromise ongoing investigations, specifically citing regulations in special counsel probes.
Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has demanded access to a host of documents related to the Biden special counsel investigation.
“Disclosures to Congress about active investigations risk jeopardizing those investigations and creating the appearance that Congress may be exerting improper political pressure or attempting to influence Department decisions in certain cases. Judgments about whether and how to pursue a matter are, and must remain, the exclusive responsibility of the Department,” the DOJ letter states.
DOJ also states in the letter that “disclosing non-public information about ongoing investigations could violate statutory requirements or court orders, reveal roadmaps for our investigations, and interfere with the Department’s ability to gather facts, interview witnesses and bring criminal prosecutions where warranted.”
House Republicans have made clear they plan to examine the Justice Department’s handling of politically sensitive probes, including its role in the ongoing special counsel investigations related to the handling of classified material by Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Jordan has asked the department to produce documents related to the appointment of Robert Hur as special counsel in the Biden documents probe as well as the selection of Trump-appointed US Attorney John Lausch to lead the initial review of the case, in addition to a broad array of internal and external communications about the matter.
DOJ’s latest response raises the question of whether Jordan will now move to issue subpoenas for the documents in question, something he told CNN last week he would consider doing if the department refused to hand them over.
“We’ll see, but we’re definitely looking at asking for documents via subpoena,” he said. “But we don’t know whether that will happen yet.”
Jordan spokesperson Russell Dye responded to Monday’s letter by saying, “It’s concerning, to say the least, that the Department is more interested in playing politics than cooperating.”
In a letter sent to Jordan earlier this month, the DOJ also signaled it’s unlikely to share information about ongoing criminal investigations with the new GOP-controlled House but noted it would respond to the Judiciary Committee chairman’s request related to the Biden special counsel probe separately.
Together, both letters provide an early sign of the hurdles Jordan is likely to face, particularly as he tries to investigate the Justice Department and the FBI. They also underscore how the appointment of a special counsel has further complicated matters for Republican lawmakers seeking to launch their own probes into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
House Republicans have been especially eager to dig into the Justice Department’s ongoing probes, even authorizing a Judiciary subcommittee tasked with investigating the purported “weaponization” of the federal government, including “ongoing criminal investigations.”
Tyre Nichols’ police beating death drew outrage nationwide, fueling protests and calls for reform
Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic videos and descriptions of violence.
CNN
—
As protesters gathered across US cities over the weekend following the Memphis police beating that led to the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, officials have said the investigation into the incident will continue amid questions over whether there could be additional charges.
The fallout from the January 7 encounter has been relatively swift. The five Memphis officers involved were fired and charged with murder and kidnapping in Nichols’ death and the police unit they were part of was disbanded.
As the investigation continues, Nichols’ family attorney Ben Crump said he thinks there will be additional fallout, but “whether that’s going to lead to criminal charges, we have to see.”
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said he can’t comment on whether there might be additional charges brought, but “nothing we did last Thursday regarding indictments precludes us from bringing other charges later.”
“We are going to need time to allow the investigation to go forward and further consideration of charges,” Mulroy told CNN Sunday.
Mulroy called it “unprecedented” that indictment charges were brought against the officers in just a matter of weeks after the fatal confrontation.
Officials knew releasing the video without charges for the officers could be “incendiary,” Mulroy said. “The best solution was to expedite the investigation and to expedite the consideration of charges so that the charges could come first and then the release of the video,” he added.
Video of the encounter is difficult to watch. It begins with a traffic stop and goes on to show officers repeatedly beating Nichols with batons, punching him and kicking him – including at one point while his hands are restrained behind his back.
He was left slumped to the ground in handcuffs, and 23 minutes passed before a stretcher arrived at the scene. Nichols was eventually hospitalized and died three days later.
“All of these officers failed their oath,” Crump told CNN on Sunday. “They failed their oath to protect and serve. Look at that video: Was anybody trying to protect and serve Tyre Nichols?”
As a makeshift memorial grew on the corner where Nichols was beaten, marching protesters in many cities – from New York City to Atlanta, Boston and Los Angeles – carried signs bearing the name of the young Black man, who the country heard calling for his mother as he was kicked, beaten and pepper-sprayed.
Nichols’ family, now at the center of unfamiliar media attention, remembered him as a good son and father who enjoyed skateboarding, photography and sunsets. They recalled his smile and hugs and mourned the moments they’ll never have again.
They also promised to “keep saying his name until justice is served.”
All five officers charged in Nichols’ beating – who are also Black – were members of the now-scrapped SCORPION unit, Memphis police spokesperson Maj. Karen Rudolph told CNN on Saturday. The unit, launched in 2021, put officers into areas where police were tracking upticks in violent crime.
Memphis police announced Saturday that it will permanently deactivate the unit, saying that “while the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonor on the title SCORPION, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department take proactive steps in the healing process for all impacted.”
“That reprehensible conduct we saw in that video, we think this was part of the culture of the SCORPION unit,” Crump said. “So we demanded that they disbanded immediately before we see anything like this happen again.”
“It was the culture that was just as guilty for killing Terry Nichols as those officers,” Crump said.
Memphis City Councilman Frank Colvett said disbanding the unit was the right move.
“I think the smart move and the mayor is correct in shutting it down. These kinds of actions are not representative of the Memphis Police Department,” Colvett said.
Memphis City Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas also commended the move and said the case should give the city a chance to “dig deeper” into community and police relations.
“We saw a very peaceful and direct sense of protest in the city of Memphis, and I think it’s because maybe we do have faith and hope that the system is going to get it right this time,” Easter-Thomas said.
The officers charged in the encounter with Nichols – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr. – are expected to be arraigned on February 17. They face charges of second-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping, among other counts.
The attorney for one of the officers indicted, Mills Jr., put out a statement Friday night saying that he didn’t cross lines “that others crossed” during the confrontation. The attorney, Blake Ballin, told CNN Mills was a “victim” of the system he worked within.”
Meanwhile, the fallout has also stretched to other agencies.
Two Memphis Fire Department employees who were part of Nichols’ initial care were relieved of duty, pending the outcome of an internal investigation. And two deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office have been put on leave pending an investigation.
Crump called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the Democratic-controlled House in 2021 but not the evenly split Senate.
The Congressional Black Caucus is requesting a meeting with President Joe Biden this week to push for negotiations on police reform, caucus chair Steven Horsford wrote in a news release Sunday.
“The brutal beating of Tyre Nichols was murder and is a grim reminder that we still have a long way to go in solving systemic police violence in America,” he wrote.
Gloria Sweet-Love, the Tennessee State Conference NAACP President applauded Memphis Police Chief Davis for “doing the right thing,” by not waiting six months to a year to fire the officers who beat up Tyre Nichols.
She had no applause for Congress, who she called to action saying, “by failing to craft and pass bills to stop police brutality, you’re writing another Black man’s obituary. The blood of Black America is on your hands. So stand up and do something.”
On the state level, two Democratic state lawmakers in Tennessee said Saturday that they intend to file police reform legislation ahead of the Tennessee general assembly’s Tuesday filing deadline. The bills would seek to address mental health care for law enforcement officers, hiring, training, discipline practices and other topics, said Rep. G.A. Hardaway, who represents a portion of Memphis and Shelby County.
While Democrats hold the minority with 24 representatives compared to the Republican majority of 99 representatives, Rep. Joe Towns Jr. said this legislation is not partisan and should pass on both sides of the legislature.
“You would be hard-pressed to look at this footage (of Tyre Nichols) and see what happened to that young man, OK, and not want to do something. If a dog in this county was beaten like that, what the hell would happen?” Towns said.
Prosecutors in Alex Murdaugh murder trial play recording of his first interview after bodies of his son and wife were found
CNN
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On the third day of the murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, prosecutors showed the court video of Murdaugh’s first interview with authorities after his wife and son were found killed.
In the interview, which had not been released publicly previously, Murdaugh described arriving at the scene where he could see the two bodies and told investigator he could see things were “bad” when he first pulled up to the home.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime related to the deaths of his wife, Margaret, and son, Paul, who was 22 at the time of the June 7, 2021 crime. Opening statements for Murdaugh’s murder trial began earlier this week and is now in recess for the weekend, with the prosecution’s ninth witness still on the stand.
In the interview played in court on Friday, Murdaugh told investigators he had left home that night to go check on his mother, who is a late-stage Alzheimer’s patient.
Murdaugh said that after arriving and seeing the bodies, he tried to turn his son’s body over and then went over to his wife. He told investigators he touched both of them to try and take their pulse, adding he “tried to do it as limited as possible,” according to the video recording.
He said there was blood around his son’s body but that he didn’t see anything else around other than Paul’s cellphone. Murdaugh broke down several times during the interview.
Murdaugh said he called 911 and later his brothers and a good friend.
Colleton County, South Carolina, Sheriff’s Office Det. Laura Rutland, who was among the officers who interviewed Murdaugh hours after the bodies were found, testified on Friday she did not see footprints or knee prints in the blood near Paul’s body.
She also testified that she had seen Murdaugh’s hands and shirt that night and he was “clean,” telling the court she did not see any blood on him.
In the video recording played in court, Murdaugh was asked by another law enforcement officer if there had been any problems and Murdaugh responded,”Nothing that I know of,” but added there had been negative publicity following a boat accident that Paul, his son, was involved in.
At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh was facing charges of boating under the influence, causing great bodily harm and causing death in connection to a 2019 boat crash that claimed the life of 19-year-old Mallory Beach, court records show.
Alex Murdaugh said in the recording there had been some “vile stuff’ online directed at his son and that Paul had been “punched and hit and just attacked a lot,” but acknowledge he had not witnessed those incidents.
Murdaugh then went on to allude about a man he recently had hired who Murdaugh said had allegedly shared a “freaky” story with Paul about getting drafted on an undercover team to “kill radical Black Panthers.”
“I really do not think that in all honesty that it’s him, but I think you oughta check it out,” Murdaugh continued, according to the recording.
Murdaugh also told investigators he owned about 20 or 25 guns.
During cross examination, defense attorney Jim Griffin questioned Rutland about how another agent collected the clothing that Murdaugh was wearing that night and asked her if she had followed proper protocol, seeming to question the integrity of the investigation.
Griffin also asked Rutland about notes in her report that night which said Murdaugh’s wife appeared to have strands of brown hair in her hands and fingers and that Paul appeared to have scratches on his face. Rutland told the court she noted what she observed.
The prosecution also called as their eighth witness another agent, who testified she collected samples from the two bodies and a ninth witness, also an agent, who is expected to resume testimony on Monday morning.
Memphis releases video showing Tyre Nichols calling for his mother, beaten by officers now charged in his death
Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic videos and descriptions of violence.
CNN
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Tyre Nichols screamed for his mother and Memphis police officers struck him multiple times – including in the face while his hands were restrained – toward the end of the Black man’s deadly encounter with the officers this month, video released by the city shows.
And although paramedics arrive minutes after officers disengage, Nichols appears to be left multiple times on the pavement without assistance before an ambulance comes.
The city on Friday night released body camera and surveillance video of the January 7 traffic stop and beating that led to the 29-year-old’s death in hospital from his injuries three days later. The release comes a day after five Memphis police officers, who also are Black and have been fired, were charged with murder.
The footage drew stunned reaction from law enforcement experts and outrage from officials including President Joe Biden, who said it was “yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.”
Live updates: Memphis releases Tyre Nichols arrest videos
Protesters in Memphis took to Interstate 55 Friday night after the videos’ release, blocking both lanes of the highway’s bridge connecting the western Tennessee city to Arkansas.
The basics of Nichols’ encounter were this: Police pulled Nichols over in Memphis in what they initially said was on suspicion of reckless driving. After officers pulled him out of his car, a struggle ensued and he ran away; minutes later, officers would catch up with him and hit or kick him numerous times, video shows.
Moments from the videos include:
During the first encounter after the traffic stop, at around 8:24 p.m., Nichols sounded calm, body cam video from an officer arriving at the scene shows.
As the officer approaches the scene, an officer is yelling at Nichols to “Get the fuck out of the car.”
Officers pull Nichols out of the vehicle and someone is heard saying, “Get the fuck on the ground and turn his ass around.” Nichols responds by saying, “I didn’t do anything,” and, “Alright, I’m on the ground.”
Officers yell at him to lie down and threaten to tase him. One officer tells him, “Bitch put your (hands) behind your back before I break them.”
Nichols can be heard telling them, “You guys are doing a lot right now. … I’m just trying to go home. I am on the ground!”
At 8:25 p.m., one officer sprays Nichols in the face with pepper spray. Nichols then struggles to his feet and begins running from the officer as one another shoots a taser at him that apparently didn’t make contact.
A struggle ensues. Nichols gets up and runs, and the officers chase him.
A different body camera video shows some of what happens when officers catch Nichols on a neighborhood street minutes later, around 8:34 p.m.
Nichols screams for his mom as the video shows an officer arriving at this scene.
– Source:
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Video: Lawyer shares Nichols called out for his mom 3 times
Officers tell Nichols to “give them his hand,” as a struggle ensues on the ground. An officer asks Nichols, “Do you want to get sprayed again?”
Two officers hit and kick Nichols as he is on the ground.
Nichols screams: “Mooooom!” and continues to call for his mom for a while.
An officer is eventually heard yelling at Nichols: “I’m going to baton the fuck out of you. Give me your fucking hands.”
A remotely operated pole-mounted police surveillance video in the neighborhood gives the clearest view of the blows. This shows officers hitting Nichols at least nine times without visible provocation.
When the camera first turns toward the scene, an officer shoves Nichols hard to the pavement with a knee or leg. Nichols is pulled up by his shoulders and then kicked in the face twice.
After being pulled up into a sitting position, Nichols is hit in the back with what appears to be a nightstick. After being pulled to his knees, Nichols is hit again.
Once pulled to his feet, the video shows officers hitting Nichols in the face multiple times while his hands are restrained behind his body, after which he falls to his knees. Less than a minute later, an officer appears to kick Nichols. More than three minutes after the encounter is first seen on this camera, officers let go of Nichols, and he rolls on his back.
One minute later, Nichols is dragged along the pavement and propped up in a sitting position against the side of a car, where he is largely ignored by officers for the next three-and-a-half minutes.
In a body-camera video, officers can be heard talking about the encounter.
“He swung – pow – almost hit me,” one officer says. “Then he reached for (inaudible) gun,” a second officer says.
One officer says Nichols “had his hand on my gun,” and “motherfucker was holding it.”
An officer later describes the traffic stop involving Nichols: “We tried to get him stopped. He didn’t stop.”
An officer says: “He drove around, swerved, nearly hit my car.”
Van Jones, a former special adviser to President Barack Obama, put it this way to CNN after seeing the videos: “(Nichols) goes from a voice from calm (during the initial encounter) to panic … to agony.”
“It’s clearly excessive force,” former New York City police Lt. Darrin Porcher told CNN. “What’s even more troubling is, no officer was wiling to intervene and say, ‘Stop.’ “
Ten minutes into the pole-camera video – a few minutes after officers disengaged – a person who appears to be a paramedic engages Nichols for the first time, around 8:41 p.m. But responders would repeatedly walk away from Nichols before an ambulance arrives.
Two minutes after paramedics started attending to Nichols, he is seen falling over to the side and seeming to hit his head hard against a piece of equipment after a bright light was shone in his face. No one appears to help Nichols as he tries to sit up, only to fall over again.
About a minute later, officers are seen crowding around Nichols, only to step away as he again falls onto his side.
First responders then spend nearly five minutes standing over Nichols, and occasionally shining a light toward his face, before walking away.
Read stepfather’s description of video: ‘No one rendered aid to him’
Nichols twists on the ground, unhelped. Medical equipment is finally brought back to Nichols’ side about three minutes later, the pole-camera video shows.
Footage shows that 21 minutes pass from when paramedics first appeared to arrive to when an ambulance finally pulls into view of the camera at 9:02 p.m.
Two deputies with the Shelby County sheriff’s office have been put on leave pending an investigation after the sheriff viewed the videos Friday.
“I have concerns about two deputies who appeared on scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols,” Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said.
“I have launched an internal investigation into the conduct of these deputies to determine what occurred and if any policies were violated. Both of these deputies have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the administrative investigation.”
Earlier, two fire department employees who were part of Nichols’ “initial patient care” were put on leave “while an internal investigation is being conducted,” department spokesperson Qwanesha Ward told CNN’s Nadia Romero.
The US Department of Justice has said it is conducting a federal civil rights investigation of Nichols’ death.
Earlier Friday, Memphis’ police chief said the video would show “acts that defy humanity.”
Police have not been able to find anything to substantiate the probable cause for reckless driving by Nichols before his fatal encounter, Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis told CNN’s Don Lemon ahead of the videos’ release.
Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, told CNN on Friday before the videos were released: “It’s still like a nightmare right now.”
“I’m still trying to understand all of this and trying to wrap my head around all of this,” Wells said. “I don’t have my baby. I’ll never have my baby again.”
Police officials in a number of major cities nationwide have said they are monitoring for any possible public outcry this weekend over what will be seen in the video footage.
Police nationwide have been under scrutiny for how they treat Black people, particularly since the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the mass protest movement known as Black Lives Matter.
Before the videos’ were made public, Wells asked for supporters to be peaceful during demonstrations, saying at a vigil in Memphis on Thursday she wants “each and every one of you to protest in peace.”
“I don’t want us burning up our cities, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,” Wells said. “And if you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully.”
A Memphis church is scheduled to hold Nichols’ funeral Wednesday.
The five Memphis police officers identified – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr. – were fired January 20 for violating police policies including on use of excessive force, police said.
They were then charged this week. Each has been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression, Mulroy, the Shelby County district attorney, said.
Martin and Haley were released from jail on a $350,000 bond, according to Shelby County Jail records, while Smith, Bean and Mills Jr. have been released after each posting a $250,000 bond.
The five former officers are scheduled for arraignment on February 17.
Blake Ballin, an attorney for Mills Jr., one of the officers, said he doesn’t believe his client “is capable of” the accusations, and his client is “remorseful” to be “connected to the death” of Nichols.
Ballin told CNN he has not yet seen the video, but has spoken to people who have. He urged those who watch the video to “treat each of these officers as individuals.”
“The levels of culpability amongst these five officers are different, and I expect that you’re going to see in this video that my client Desmond Mills is not, in fact, guilty of the crimes he’s been charged with,” Ballin said.
Tyre Nichols death: Multiple former Memphis polilce officers to be charged with murder, court records show
CNN
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[Breaking news update, published at 1:22 p.m. ET]
Multiple former Memphis police officers are facing charges, including second-degree murder, in the death of Tyre Nichols, according to Shelby County criminal court records.
[Original story, published at 12:40 p.m. ET]
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy is set to provide an update on the investigation into the Memphis Police arrest of Tyre Nichols and his ensuing death at 2 p.m. CT Thursday that will include an announcement of criminal charges, a source close to the investigation told CNN’s Don Lemon.
The source also said authorities expect to release police video of the stop on Friday.
One of the five officers fired after Nichols’ death has been indicted and has surrendered, attorney William Massey said. Massey represents former officer Emmitt Martin III. The attorney said he does not yet know the nature of the charges.
Live updates on the Tyre Nichols case
The anticipated announcement of criminal charges comes about three weeks after Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was hospitalized after a traffic stop and “confrontation” with Memphis police that family attorneys have called a savage beating.
Nichols died from his injuries on January 10, three days after the arrest, authorities said.
The five Memphis police officers, who are also Black, were fired for violating policies on excessive use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid, the department said. Other Memphis police officers are still under investigation for department policy violations related to the incident, the chief said.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis condemned the actions of the arresting officers as “a failing of basic humanity” and called for peaceful protests ahead of the release of video of the arrest.
“This is not just a professional failing. This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual,” Davis said in a YouTube video Wednesday, her first on-camera comments about the arrest. “This incident was heinous, reckless, and inhumane, and in the vein of transparency, when the video is released in the coming days, you will see this for yourselves.”
The prosecutor has said a decision on whether to file charges is forthcoming. An attorney representing one of the officers will hold a news briefing after the district attorney’s update Thursday.
Authorities have not publicly released video of the arrest, but Nichols’ family and attorneys were shown the video on Monday. They said the footage shows officers severely beating Nichols and compared it to the Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King in 1991.
Nichols had “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to the attorneys, citing preliminary results of an autopsy they commissioned.
Nichols’ arrest and ensuing death comes amid heightened scrutiny of how police treat Black people, particularly since the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the mass protest movement known as Black Lives Matter.
Davis, the first Black woman to serve as Memphis police chief, said she anticipated the release of the video in the coming days would cause public reaction and urged citizens to be nonviolent amid “our outrage and frustration.”
“I expect our citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to protest to demand action and results. But we need to ensure our community is safe in this process,” Davis said. “None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens.”
Law enforcement agencies nationwide are bracing for protests and potential unrest following the release of video, multiple sources told CNN. The Major Cities Chiefs Association, one of the leading professional law enforcement organizations, has convened several calls with member agencies, according to the group’s executive director, Laura Cooper.
A law enforcement source familiar with the national coordination told CNN that in at least one of those calls Memphis police told participants to be on alert for unrest. The source added there was an additional call among Washington, DC, law enforcement agencies to coordinate responses and share information.
Nichols, the father of a 4-year-old, had worked with his stepfather at FedEx for about nine months, his family said. He was fond of skateboarding in Shelby Farms Park, Starbucks with friends and photographing sunsets, and he had his mother’s name tattooed on his arm, the family said. He also had the digestive issue known as Crohn’s disease and so was a slim 140 to 145 pounds despite his 6-foot-3-inch height, his mother said.
On January 7, he was pulled over by Memphis officers on suspicion of reckless driving, police said in their initial statement on the incident. As officers approached the vehicle, a “confrontation” occurred and Nichols fled on foot, police said. The officers pursued him and they had another “confrontation” before he was taken into custody, police said.
Nichols then complained of shortness of breath, was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and died three days later, police said.
In Memphis police scanner audio, a person says there was “one male Black running” and called to “set up a perimeter.” Another message says “he’s fighting at this time.”
Attorneys for Nichols’ family who watched video of the arrest on Monday described it as a heinous police beating that lasted three long minutes. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Nichols was tased, pepper-sprayed and restrained, and family attorney Antonio Romanucci said he was kicked.
“He was defenseless the entire time. He was a human piñata for those police officers. It was an unadulterated, unabashed, nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes. That is what we saw in that video,” Romanucci said. “Not only was it violent, it was savage.”
The five officers who were terminated were identified by police as Martin, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith. All joined the department in the last six years, police said.
In addition, two members of the city’s fire department who were part of Nichols’ “initial patient care” were relieved of duty, a fire spokesperson said. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced an investigation into Nichols’ death and the US Department of Justice and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation.
Video of the incident could be released this week or next week, Mulroy told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday night, but he wants to make sure his office has interviewed everyone involved before releasing the video so it doesn’t have an impact on their statements.
Prosecutors are trying to expedite the investigation and may be able to make a determination on possible charges “around the same time frame in which we contemplate release of the video,” Mulroy said.
Nichols’ family wants the officers charged with murder, Romanucci told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday evening.
Tyre Nichols: A timeline of the investigations into Nichols’ death after a traffic stop and arrest by Memphis police
CNN
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Nearly three weeks after a traffic stop in Memphis resulted in a violent arrest and subsequent death of a driver, police are expected to release police body camera footage of the incident to the public.
Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was hospitalized after the arrest on January 7 and died three days later from injuries sustained, according to police. Five officers from the Memphis Police Department, who are also Black, were fired after an internal investigation and face potential criminal charges.
The family of Nichols and attorneys have met with police and city officials to view the traffic stop’s video recordings, which have been described as a vicious, prolonged beating that lasted for minutes after officers chased down a fleeing Nichols.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis decried the officers’ conduct, adding additional officers continue to be investigated.
“This is not just a professional failing,” Davis said. “This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual. This incident was heinous, reckless and inhumane. And in the vein of transparency, when the video is released in the coming days, you will see this for yourselves.”
Here’s what we know about the timeline of the incident, investigations from authorities and reaction from Nichols’ family:
On January 7 at approximately 8:30 p.m., officers pulled over a vehicle for suspected reckless driving, according to a statement from Memphis police.
“A confrontation occurred” between officers and the vehicle’s driver – later identified as Nichols – who then fled on foot, according to Memphis police. Officers apprehended him and “another confrontation occurred,” resulting in Nichols’ arrest, police said.
An ambulance was called to the scene of the arrest after Nichols complained of shortness of breath, police said, and he was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
On January 10, three days after the stop, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Nichols had died due to injuries sustained in the “use-of-force incident with officers,” according to a statement.
Following the traffic stop, the officers involved were relieved of duty – a standard departmental procedure while an investigation into their use of force began, Memphis police said. The TBI and the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office were also enlisted to investigate.
Preliminary findings indicated the serious nature of the officers’ conduct during the stop, police said.
“After reviewing various sources of information involving this incident, I have found that it is necessary to take immediate and appropriate action,” Chief Davis said in a statement released January 15. “Today, the department is serving notice to the officers involved of the impending administrative actions.”
The department needed to follow a required procedural process before disciplining or terminating government civil servant employees, the statement added.
In the days after Nichols’ death, his family’s attorney Ben Crump repeatedly voiced their desire for the release of body camera and surveillance footage of the traffic stop.
“This kind of in-custody death destroys community trust if agencies are not swiftly transparent,” Crump said in a statement.
On January 18, the Department of Justice said a civil rights investigation has been opened into the death of Nichols.
“Last week, Tyre Nichols tragically died, a few days after he was involved in an incident where Memphis Police Department officers used force during his arrest,” Kevin G. Ritz, US Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, said in a statement.
Acknowledging the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s ongoing efforts, the US Attorney’s office “in coordination with the FBI Memphis Field Office and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, has opened a civil rights investigation,” Ritz said, declining to provide further details.
After its internal investigation, Memphis police identified and fired five officers involved in the traffic stop due to their violation of multiple department policies.
Officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith were terminated for failing in their “excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid,” the department said in a statement.
“The egregious nature of this incident is not a reflection of the good work our officers perform, with integrity every day,” Davis said.
A statement from the Memphis Police Association, the union representing the officers, declined to comment on the terminations beyond saying that the city of Memphis and Nichols’ family “deserve to know the complete account of the events leading up to his death and what may have contributed to it.”
Nichols family attorneys Crump and Antonio Romanucci called the firing of the five officers “the first step towards achieving justice for Tyre and his family.”
Two Memphis Fire Department employees who were part of Nichols’ “initial patient care” were also fired, department Public Information Officer Qwanesha Ward told CNN’s Nadia Romero.
After meeting with officials to watch the unreleased police video of the arrest, Nichols’ family and their attorneys described their horror at what they saw.
“He was defenseless the entire time. He was a human piñata for those police officers. It was an unadulterated, unabashed, nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes. That is what we saw in that video,” Romanucci said. “Not only was it violent, it was savage.”
“What I saw on the video today was horrific,” Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said Monday. “No father, mother should have to witness what I saw today.”
Crump described the video as “appalling,” “deplorable” and “heinous.” He said Ravaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, was unable to get through viewing the first minute of the footage after hearing Nichols ask, “What did I do?” At the end of the footage, Nichols can be heard calling for his mother three times, the attorney said.
According to preliminary results of an autopsy commissioned by attorneys for his family, Nichols suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.” CNN has requested a copy of the autopsy, which Crump said will be available when the full report is ready.
The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office has yet to announce if anyone will be charged in the case. District Attorney Steve Mulroy told CNN on Tuesday his office is ensuring all necessary interviews with those involved have been conducted before the footage’s release.
“A lot of the people’s questions about what exactly happened will, of course, be answered once people see the video,” Mulroy said, noting he believes the city will release enough footage to show the “entirety of the incident, from the very beginning to the very end.”