Memphis cops in Tyre Nichols’ death beat up another black motorist just 3 days prior: suit
The five Memphis cops charged with killing Tyre Nichols have been accused of beating another black man just three days earlier, a federal lawsuit filed this week alleges.
Monterrious Harris, 22, is suing the officers involved in the since-disbanded Memphis police SCORPION unit over an alleged Jan. 4 beatdown that he says left him hospitalized.
Harris alleges that the same five officers involved in Nichols’ Jan. 7 fatal traffic stop had surrounded his car outside his cousin’s Hickory Hill apartment complex — and demanded he get out or “be shot,” according to the filing.
He claims he thought he was being robbed because the men were wearing black ski masks and didn’t identify themselves as cops.
Harris starting backing his car up but collided with something roughly 5 to 10 feet behind him, the suit says. He then “reluctantly” got out of the car with his hands up, “hoping that the men in black ski-masks would not shoot him and would simply take his vehicle.”
Harris claims he only then realized the men were some type of law enforcement after noticing their tactical vests.
“Upon exiting his vehicle, the men in black ski-masks grabbed, punched, kicked and assaulted Mr. Harris,” the suit alleges, adding that his face was slammed into the concrete.
The beating continued for about one to two minutes, according to the suit.
In the wake of the alleged beating, Harris said, he was left bleeding from the head, his left eye was swollen shut and his legs were bruised and cut from being stomped and kicked. He was treated in the hospital after a jail nurse or intake specialist advised he be taken there, according to the suit.
Harris alleges the only reason he wasn’t more severely injured or killed was because residents started coming out of the apartment complex and witnessed the ordeal, the suit says.
According to the official police report, officers said Harris had driven toward detectives and backed up at high speed before trying to flee on foot.
Cops said they took Harris in on a slew of charges, including convicted felon in possession of a handgun, criminal trespass and possession of a controlled substance.
The man insists in the suit that he wasn’t armed during the ordeal and claims a gun found in his vehicle belonged to his cousin.
Harris claims his cousin had been sitting in the vehicle just moments before the alleged beatdown and — without his knowledge — had secured a licensed and registered firearm between the passenger seat and the middle console.
The cousin then left the car to grab a jacket from his apartment before they planned to head into downtown Memphis, the suit says.
Officers Justin Smith, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Tadarrius Bean and Desmond Mills Jr. — who were all fired and charged in the wake of Nichols’ death — were named on the arrest affidavit the day Harris was nabbed.
Those officers are accused of fatally beating Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx worker, after they pulled his car over on Jan. 7 near his mom’s home.
Disturbing bodycam footage shows the officers repeatedly punching, kicking, pepper-spraying and tasing Nichols for approximately three minutes as he desperately called out for his mother.
The footage also appears to show Haley standing over Nichols a few minutes after the beating and taking a photo, which he reportedly sent to six people.
Nichols died at a local hospital three days later.
The cops had said they pulled Nichols over for reckless driving, but the police chief has since said the department couldn’t find evidence to support that claim.
The five officers were fired and have each 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 Memphis Police Department didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
