Second Memphis officer involved in Tyre Nichols death changes plea

Emmitt Martin, one of the five Memphis officers involved in the brutal 2023 beating of Tyre Nichols, changed his plea to guilty Friday, in connection to alleged civil rights violations.

Martin is the second former officer in the case to change his plea. Desmond Mills Jr. pleaded guilty to federal charges of excessive force and obstruction of justice in November. 

Mills agreed to cooperate with prosecuting officials and faces up to 15 years in prison, which prosecutors asked to be served concurrently in the federal prison system. 

Nichols, 29, was killed in Memphis, Tenn., after a traffic stop in January 2023 turned deadly. 

Memphis police officers initially said Nichols was stopped for reckless driving, though authorities later acknowledged there was no evidence to substantiate the claim.

Graphic video footage of the encounter showed officers using pepper spray, deploying a stun gun and beating Nichols repeatedly. He can be heard throughout the video screaming for his mother throughout the incident.

Nichols died of his injuries on Jan. 10, three days after the stop.

The five officers — Martin and Mills along with Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — were all Black men. All five were fired from the department shortly after the deadly incident. 

The Department of Justice announced in July that it was investigating the Memphis Police Department over potential constitutional and civil rights violations in the wake of Nichols’s death.