Demetrius Haley, one of the Memphis police officers charged with the brutal murder of Tyre Nichols, reportedly snapped photos of the victim when he was bloodied and handcuffed to send to six different people after the beating that ultimately led to his death.
According to a state document obtained by local news station WREG, Haley — who was quickly fired from his job after the killing — took two pictures of 29-year-old Nichols on his personal phone when he was critically injured.
Haley, 30, texted the photos of Nichols to two fellow officers, a civilian employee of the police department and a female acquaintance, the document states. A sixth unidentified individual was also sent the pictures. The images showed Nichols propped against a car because he was unable to sit up on his own after the brutal beating.
“On your personal cell phone, you took two photographs while standing in front of the obviously injured subject after he was handcuffed,” the document reads. “In your Garrity statement, you admitted you shared the photo in a text message with five (5) people; one civilian employee, two MPD officers, and one female acquaintance.”
The Memphis Police Department submitted the document to a state board as part of their request that the five officers involved in Nichols’ death be decertified and ineligible to work as police officers in Tennessee.
Haley, along with the four other officers — Tadarrius Bean, 24; Emmitt Martin III, 30; Desmond Mills, Jr., 32, and Justin Smith, 28 — have been charged with second-degree murder, two counts of official misconduct, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of official oppression and one count of aggravated assault.
The charges are in response to the fatal beating of Nichols, which happened after they pulled him over while driving a car near his mother’s home on January 7. In the shocking bodycam footage, the officers can be seen repeatedly punching, kicking, pepper-spraying and tasing Nichols for roughly three minutes while he desperately called out for his mother.
A few weeks after the beating, rumors began circulating on social media that Haley may have had a personal connection to the victim that prompted the assault.
Sir Maejor, an actor, sent out a tweet about the rumors — asserting that Nichols was “in a relationship” with Haley’s “ex-girlfriend & baby mama,” and had worked alongside her at a FedEx in Memphis.
He also claimed that Haley had taken pictures of Nichols following the beating and “sent it to his babymama.”
BREAKING NEWS: I am being told that Tyre Nichols was in a relationship with and worked at a Memphis @FedEx with #MemphisPolice Demetrius Halys’s ex-girlfriend & baby mama.
After the beating Officer Halys took a pictures of #TyreNichols face and sent it to his babymama. pic.twitter.com/vH8QDstOo8
— Sir Maejor (@sirmaejor) January 30, 2023
The next day, Maejor sent a follow-up tweet with a disclaimer in all caps, writing: “THIS IS MERELY SPECULATIONS AND OR A RUMOR AT THIS POINT — THIS INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED.”
⚠️THIS IS MERELY SPECULATIONS AND OR A RUMOR AT THIS POINT – THIS INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED ⚠️
— Sir Maejor (@sirmaejor) January 31, 2023
While it is unclear if the “female acquaintance” is actually Haley’s baby mama, or if the rumors of her relationship with the victim are true, many have said that the news of Haley sending the pictures is confirmation of the rumors.
