Don Cameron, an expert in force use, listens to the question of the Shelby County District Prosecutor.
MEMPHIS, Tennessee.- An expert in police training who declared on Saturday as a witness of the defense in the trial to three plundering of Memphis accused of blowing Tyre Nichols, acknowledged that the kicks and punches that Nichols received in the head were unnecessary and excessive.
Don Cameron went up to the stand on the sixth day of the trial against Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have declared themselves innocent of state positions, including involuntary murder. They already face the possibility of spending years in prison after being sentenced by federal charges last year.
Nichols, a 29 -year -old black man, fled a traffic arrest in January 2023 after the police took him out of his vehicle, sprayed him with pepper gas and shot him with a stunned weapon. Five agents, who are also black, reached, kicked and hit Nichols with a tolete while they had problems to handcuff him while asking for his mother near his home.
The images of the beating captured by a police chamber also showed the agents wandering, speaking and laughing while Nichols fought. His death unleashed national protests, called Police reforms In the United States and an intense police scrutiny in Memphis, a black majority city.
Agents face involuntary murder positions, aggravated aggression, aggravated kidnapping, undue behavior and official oppression. The Prosecutor’s Office has argued that the police used excessive strength when trying to handcuff Nichols. The agents also had the duty to intervene and stop the beating and inform the medical staff that Nichols had been hit in the head, but did not, the prosecutors affirm.
The expolitions of Memphis Desmond Mills Jr. and Immitt Martin were also accused in the case. They agreed to declare themselves guilty of state charges and are not being judged. They also declared guilty in a federal court, where the sentence for the five is still pending.
Defensor lawyers have tried to undermine accusations that agents used unnecessary force to submit Nichols. They have argued that Nichols actively resisted the arrest by fleeing and not facilitating the agents to handcuff him. They have also argued that its use of force complied with the police department policies.
