A decertification process for six SCORPION unit officers from the Memphis Police Department began Jan. 25 and Feb. 8, according to documents provided by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Commission.

POST – which is the primary regulatory body for Tennessee law enforcement – will consider the requests during hearings at a later point, but the officers have not yet been decertified.

The six officers facing decertification for their role in the death of Tyre Nichols are Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith and Preston Hemphill.

Police documents suggest that officers never told Nichols why he was stopped; not all of their body-worn cameras were activated during the stop; and there were apparent “truthfulness violations.”

The POST reports revealed, among other things, that during administrative hearings conducted by the Memphis Police Department, the hearing officers determined Haley took photos of Nichols after the beating and sent a photo via text message to at least six other people, including “a female acquaintance.”

They also showed that Smith was the only of the six officers to provide a written statement, in which he revealed that he has an EMT certification.

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The former five were fired from MPD on Jan. 20, then on Jan. 26, were all indicted on charges, including second-degree murder, acting in concert of aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping.

Hemphill was terminated Feb. 3 after being relieved of duty Jan. 8. Hemphill has so far not been criminally charged in relation to Nichols’ death.

City officials have confirmed seven other unidentified officers are facing administrative charges.

The commission “is responsible for developing and enforcing professional standards and training requirements for all local law enforcement officers,” according to a POST statement. “Additionally, the POST Commission is responsible for certifying and decertifying law enforcement officers.”

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Here is more of what’s found in the six individual POST reports.

Tadarrius Bean

During the fatal arrest of Tyre Nichols on Jan. 7, Bean was determined to have committed five violations according to the POST report.

Personal conduct violations:

• After Nichols was placed in custody, other officers were captured on body-worn cameras making multiple unprofessional comments, laughing and bragging about his involvement.
• He and the other officers left Nichols lying on the ground handcuffed and unattended after he sustained injuries from the beating.

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Neglect of duty:

• Bean held Nichols by one of his arms while one of Bean’s partners pepper sprayed him, then he excessively struck him with an ASP baton.
• Bean failed to recognize Nichols’ signs of distress.
• Bean failed to disclose viable information to the responding emergency personnel to render the proper medical attention.
• According to body-worn camera footage, Bean knew the suspect was pepper sprayed, tased, struck with an ASP baton, punched and kicked.
• Bean and his partners failed to immediately assist the emergency personnel with the request to unhandcuff the subject as his condition changed while left unattended on the ground.

Duty to intervene and report improper conduct violation:

• Bean failed to take reasonable action to stop the excessive and unnecessary use of force on Nichols, who was not armed and was only evading arrest on foot for a traffic violation.

Excessive force/unnecessary force:

• Bean admitted in a Garrity statement that he struck an unarmed and non-violent subject with a closed fist two to three times in his face because Bean and his partners were unable to handcuff Nichols.
• Bean held Nichols’ right arm while officers kicked, punched, and pepper sprayed him several times.

Compliance with regulations violations:

• Bean’s bodycam was activated prior during initial reaction to apprehend Nichols, but he removed the camera off his duty vest and placed it on the trunk of a squad car during the active scene. Bean subsequently walked away from the camera while it was still recording to have a conversation with other officers about the incident.

Bean chose to not give a statement at Administrative Hearing on Jan. 20.

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Demetrius Haley

Haley was the first contact officer on the traffic stop of Nichols. He was charged with six violations.

Personal conduct violations:

• Haley, who wore a hoodie over his head, exited his unmarked vehicle, which was stopped in an opposing traffic lane and forced Nichols out of his vehicle while using loud profanity.
• Haley never told Nichols the purpose of the vehicle stop or that he was under arrest.
• Haley was on an active cell phone call where the person on the other end of the call overheard the police encounter.
• Haley and other officers were captured on bodycam making multiple unprofessional comments such as “that m-thaf---a made me spray myself,” while laughing and bragging about their involvement.

Truthfulness violations:

• Haley was required to complete a response-to-resistance form to provide a truthful account of his use of force during his encounter with Nichols. In his incident summary, Haley wrote that he heard his partner tell Nichols, “Let my gun go!” before he was taken to the ground. Haley was also heard making the same statement on his bodycam to his partners in the presence of witness officers. However, the video footage did not support his written or oral statement and his information was deemed untruthful.
• During his Garrity statement, he told investigators that the details were correct.
• He failed to disclose that he also kicked Nichols while he was on the ground.

Neglect of duty:

• During the first and second encounters with Nichols, Haley sprayed a chemical agent directly in his eyes and kicked him while he was on the ground.
• Haley failed to recognize Nichols’ signs of distress.
• Haley failed to disclose viable information to the responding emergency personnel to render the proper medical attention.
• Haley failed to assist the emergency medical personnel with the request to unhandcuff Nichols as his condition changed while he was left unattended on the ground.

Excessive force/unnecessary force:

• Haley was the first contact officer on scene at which time he physically forced Nichols from his vehicle and deployed a chemical irritant spray directly in his eyes.
• During the second attempt to arrest Nichols, Haley ran up and kicked Nichols in the upper torso area while three of his partners were attempting to handcuff him. In his Garrity statement, Haley said his kicks were to loosen Nichols’ arm, even though he already appeared to be held onto by his arms.

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Compliance with regulations violations:

• Haley failed to activate his bodycam during the first encounter with Nichols at the traffic stop.

Information concerning police business violations:

• On Haley’s personal cell phone, he took two photographs while standing in front of Nichols, who was obviously injured, after he was handcuffed.
• In his Garrity statement, Haley admitted to sharing the photo in a text message with five people including one civilian employee, two MPD officers and one “female acquaintance.” During the administrative investigation, a sixth person was identified as a recipient of the same photograph.

Emmitt Martin III

Martin was the second contact officer during the initial traffic stop. He was determined to have committed six violations, according to the POST Commission report.

Personal conduct violations:

• During the initial traffic stop, Martin said to Nichols, who was not using profanity or displaying any violent threats: “B---, put your arm behind your back before I break it,” and “I’mma knock you a-- the f--- out!”
• After Nichols was placed in custody at Castlegate Lane and Bear Creek Cove, Martin and other officers made multiple comments such as “that m-thaf---a made me spray myself,” while laughing and bragging about his involvement.

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Truthfulness violations:

• Martin reported in the incident summary in his response to resistance form that Nichols grabbed his duty weapon before he and his partners placed Nichols on the ground. However, according to the report, video evidence does not corroborate Martin’s statement.
• Martin failed to disclose that he punched Nichols in the face and kicked him multiple times on a response-to-resistance form he submitted after the event and instead added to the statement that he gave “body blows.”

Neglect of duty:

• Use of force behavior caused visible injuries to a nonviolent subject who evaded officers on foot for a suspected traffic violation.
• Martin knew Nichols was pepper sprayed, tased, struck with an ASP baton, punched and kicked.
• Martin failed to recognize Nichols’ signs of distress and failed to disclose viable information to the responding emergency personnel to render proper medical attention.
• Martin and his partners failed to immediately assist the emergency medical personnel with the request to unhandcuff Nichols as his condition changed while he was left unattended on the ground.

Duty to intervene and report improper conduct violations:

• Martin witnessed another officer excessively strike Nichols with an ASP baton multiple times while another officer kicked Nichols, who was not being violent.
• Martin failed to take reasonable action to stop the unnecessary use of force as Nichols was not armed and only evading arrest on foot for a traffic violation.

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Excessive force/unnecessary force:

• Martin was the second contact officer during the initial traffic stop, at which time he assisted another officer to physically force Nichols from the vehicle despite him not displaying any violence toward him or other officers.
• Martin kicked Nichols three times in the upper torso area while he was on the ground.
• Martin struck Nichols with a closed fist in his face five times while Nichols’ arms were being held by two officers.
• In his Garrity statement, Martin was unable to provide justification for the physical force on an unarmed subject.

Compliance with regulations violations:

• Martin failed to activate his bodycam during the first encounter with Nichols during the initial traffic stop. The bodycam worked properly, and he failed to record the use-of-force incident in its entirety.
• At some point, he took the bodycam off and placed it on his unmarked vehicle.

Desmond Mills, Jr.

Mills was charged with four violations:

Personal conduct violations:

• Mills and other officers were caught on his bodycam while making multiple unprofessional comments, laughing and bragging about their involvement.
• Mills did not obtain Nichols’ mother’s contact info when he changed location to speak with her; he refused to provide an accurate account of her son’s encounter with police or his condition.

Neglect of duty:

• Mills failed to recognize Nichols’ signs of distress.
• Mills failed to disclose viable information to the responding emergency personnel to render proper medical attention.
• Mills admitted in his Garrity statement that he did not provide immediate medical aid and instead walked away and decontaminated himself from chemical irritant spray.

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Excessive force/unnecessary force:

• Mills deployed his ASP baton and struck Nichols, who was nonviolent, three times and deployed OC spray twice because his partners were unable to handcuff Nichols.
• Mills’ use-of-force behavior was found to be excessive, unnecessary, and cause serious bodily injury.

Compliance with regulations violation:

• Mills wore his bodycam during the initial attempt to apprehend Nichols but later removed his duty vest and placed it on the trunk of an unmarked vehicle with the body cam attached. He did not keep his bodycam on to capture the event in its entirety.

Justin Smith

Smith was charged with five violations.

Personal conduct violations:

• After Nichols was placed in custody, Smith and the other officers were captured on bodycam footage making unprofessional comments while laughing and bragging about their involvement.

Neglect of duty:

• Smith held Nichols by one of his arms while one of his partners pepper sprayed him. Smith then excessively struck Nichols with an ASP baton while his other partner punched and kicked Nichols, who was nonviolent.
• Smith failed to recognize Nichols’ signs of distress.
• Smith failed to disclose viable information to the responding emergency personnel to render proper medical attention.
• Smith failed, along with his partners, to immediately assist the emergency personnel with the request to unhandcuff the subject as his condition changed while he was left unattended on the ground.
• In his Garrity statement, Smith stated he has an EMT certification.

Duty to intervene and report improper conduct violations:

• Smith held Nichols by one of his arms while one of his partners pepper sprayed him then excessively struck him with an ASP baton multiple times.
• Smith witnessed another officer punch and kick Nichols multiple times.
• Smith failed to take reasonable action to stop the excessive and unnecessary use of force as Nichols was not armed and only evaded arrest on foot for a traffic violation.

Excessive force/unnecessary force:

• In his Garrity statement, Smith admitted to striking an unarmed and non-violent subject with a closed fist two to three times in the face because he and his partner were unable to handcuff him.
• Smith sprayed Nichols with a chemical irritant spray and also held Nichols’ arm while other officers kicked, punched, and pepper sprayed him several times.

Compliance with regulations violation:

• Smith’s bodycam was not activated during initial interaction to apprehend Nichols, despite the fact that it functioned properly. He did not record the event in its entirety.

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Written statement

Smith was the only former MPD officer involved in the incident that chose to make a written statement. Smith declined to give a verbal statement.

He noted in the statement that he was directed to be on desk duty the night of Jan. 7 because of an on-the-job injury.

“Even though I was directed to be on desk duty, I was directed by my supervisors to be on patrol,” the statement read.

Preston Hemphill

Hemphill was charged with five violations.

Personal conduct violations:

• Nichols was removed from the vehicle by Hemphill and his partners.
• While on top of Nichols, audio from a body worn camera captured Hemphill saying, “Get on the f--- ground. Finna tase yo a--!”
• While a second set of officers caught Nichols at a different location while Hemphill remained with the vehicle, he can be heard on body camera telling his partner, “I hope they stomp his a--!”

Compliance with regulations violations:

• Hemphill used his city-issued Taser from his holster and placed it on Nichols’ leg.
• After Nichols got up and attempted to distance himself, Hemphill deployed his Taser for three seconds while Nichols was on his feet and running away from the arresting officers.
• Nichols was also in the middle of the street while traffic was still present when he deployed the Taser, putting everyone involved at risk of serious bodily injuries due to oncoming traffic.
• It was unknown if the Taser made a physical contact with Nichols, but one prong was missing upon Hemphill’s inspection of the cartridge. Hemphill did not attempt to locate the missing probe.

Truthfulness violations:

• In a statement on his response-to-resistance form detailing his account of the event, Hemphill said Nichols attempted to grab his partner’s weapon. There is no video footage to corroborate that statement.
• Hemphill said in his statement that he did not see Nichols try to grab his partner’s gun.
• He also said Nichols fought him and his partner, despite video showing Nichols running away from officers who were trying to grab him after being thrown to the ground by Hemphill and his partner.

Compliance with regulations violation:

• Hemphill did not have his city issued handcuffs during the event. Upon inspection of his equipment, Hemphill provided two sets of handcuffs that he personally owned. His MPD handcuffs were not in his possession on Jan. 7.

Inventory and processing recovered property violation:

• Hemphill was instructed to complete an inventory and document items of monetary value on a Memphis Police tow-in slip.
• In his statement to an ISB investigator, he admitted observing a cellphone in the driver seat of Nichols’ blue Nissan Sentra. But he did not document the cellphone on the tow-in slip or bag it as evidence.
• The cellphone remained inside of the vehicle upon its arrival at the city impound lot.