CNN —
After five former Memphis police officers were swiftly charged with second-degree murder in connection with Tyre Nichols’ killing less than three weeks after his death last month, the rest of the investigation is expected to take much longer, a spokesperson for the district attorney said Friday.
The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said its waiting on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to conclude its investigation before the independent Justice Unit can begin its review and give recommendations on other potential charges in the case.
The initial charges by the DA were swift because “the focus was on the five officers” whose actions were “plain and clear,” Erica Williams, a spokesperson for the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, told CNN Friday.
“The investigations normally take a very long time,” Williams said. “I don’t want to say people got spoiled with the swift charges. The rest of this will take much longer.”
Five Black former officers are due to be arraigned February 17 after they were fired January 20, then indicted on seven counts each, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated kidnapping in possession of a deadly weapon, official misconduct and official oppression, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced January 27.
Two more officers – one White and one still not publicly identified – who were put on leave January 8 remain under internal investigation, police said.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was hospitalized after a January 7 traffic stop and “confrontation” with Memphis police that family attorneys have called a savage beating. Nichols died from his injuries on January 10, three days after the arrest, authorities said.
“We are looking at everybody who had any kind of involvement in this incident,” Mulroy told CNN days after the release of public body camera and surveillance footage of the encounter.
The city of Memphis last week released body-camera and surveillance footage showing what Mulroy said is “the relevant parts” of the initial stop and the beating at a second location. But up to 20 hours of additional footage related to the encounter has yet to be released, which could play a key investigative role, Mulroy said Wednesday.
The released video has contradicted what officers said happened in the initial police report filed after Nichols’ beating. And potential charges of “false reporting” related to the initial police report are being investigated, Williams told CNN Wednesday.
Beyond police, three Memphis Fire Department staffers have been terminated and two Shelby County Sheriff’s Office deputies were put on leave for their roles in the case, leaders of those agencies have said.
All the fired officers and one still on leave were part of the force’s SCORPION unit – created to tackle rising crime in the city and disbanded amid national outcry following Nichols’ death – the department has confirmed.
None of the fired officers had previously been disciplined for excessive force, though several had received written reprimands or short suspensions for violating department policies, their personnel files show.
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