MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A disgraced former Memphis police officer cried on the stand Tuesday as he watched video of him and his former colleagues giving Tyre Nichols the brutal beating that led to his death.
Desmond Mills Jr., who was testifying at the trial of three other former officers, became overcome with grief when he was confronted with video of him drawing his police baton and telling the other officers near Nichols to “watch out.”
“I pulled my baton out and hit Mr. Nichols three times,” Mills testified.
Then he broke down in tears as the body camera video appeared to show former officers Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III punching and kicking the groaning Nichols, 29.
“I wished I could stop the punches,” Mills said. “It hurts to watch. It hurt inside so much,”
Weeping, Mills said of Nichols: “I made his child fatherless, and I’m sorry. … I’m sorry.”
Nichols, who was the father of a young son, died three days after the beating in January 2023, which was caught on police cameras and reignited calls for police reform nationwide after the video was made public.
Mills’ jarring and emotional testimony came during the trial of Bean, Smith and Demetrius Haley.
All three have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that they deprived Nichols of his rights through excessive force and failure to intervene and that they obstructed justice through witness tampering.
Mills and Martin have pleaded guilty to the federal charges.
The five officers were members of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion unit, which was disbanded after Nichols’ death. Like Nichols, who died in a hospital on Jan. 10, 2023, all the ex-officers are Black.
They were fired for violating police department policies.
Mills testified that he became incensed after his first encounter with Nichols because he had inadvertently sprayed himself with pepper spray. He said he never gave Nichols a chance to comply with his orders before he started beating him.
“Then why did you say, ‘Give me your hands?'” prosecutor Forrest Christian asked.
“To make it look better, even though it wasn’t better,” Mills replied.
Last week, Martin testified that he initiated the bogus reckless driving traffic stop of Nichols.
Nicknamed “Full Can” by his colleagues after he once used an entire can of pepper spray on a suspect, Martin told the court it was his first week back on the job after he had been off for about six weeks recuperating from a work injury. He said he was nervous and itching to make an arrest.
Nichols, Martin testified, never posed a threat when they yanked him out of his car.
Even so, Martin said, Haley pepper-sprayed Nichols, who took off running. He said having to chase Nichols infuriated him.
“I was angry,” Martin said. “I was already angry that he ran from the first stop.”
Martin testified he punched Nichols at least five times and kicked him four times.
Then, Martin said, he removed his body camera, stood by and watched Smith and Bean pound the “helpless” man.
“I didn’t want it to show what we were doing,” he said.
He said he did not intervene when Mills began hitting Nichols with a baton.
Later, Martin said, he lied to a supervisor that Nichols was high and had thrown a punch at him. He said it was standard for members of the anti-violence team to keep quiet about using force.
Jerry Askin and Lydian Kennin reported from Memphis, Tenn., and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.
