Years before police officer Demetrius Haley pulled Tyre Nichols from his car on Jan. 7, setting in motion a deadly confrontation, Haley was accused of taking part in the savage beating of an inmate at the Shelby County jail.
The 2015 assault was so disturbing that 34 other inmates — the entire cell block — signed a letter to the corrections director.
“We are truly asking that this matter gets looked into before someone gets hurt really bad or lose their life because of some unprofessional officers," the letter stated.
The warning from dozens of inmates is the clearest indication yet that one of the officers who took part in the violent beating of Nichols had an event in his past that should have raised concerns before he was hired as a police officer.
Shelby County did not immediately respond to a request on Friday seeking information about its investigation into the beating allegations, so it is unclear if Haley was ultimately disciplined for the incident or cleared of wrongdoing. A Memphis Police Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email asking whether they knew about the incident when Haley was hired.
Haley now stands charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death, along with Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith. All the officers except Bean have infractions on their records from their police work. Policy violations include using minor physical force during an arrest and failing to fill out a form about it, failing to report a domestic violence situation, and a car crash, records show.
The prior accusations against Haley came to light because the inmate, Cordarlrius Sledge, filed a federal lawsuit in 2016 against him. It was ultimately dismissed on procedural grounds, because Sledge had failed to file a grievance with the jail.
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Loller reported from Nashville. AP news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
