Martin testifies he was ‘angry’ but Tyre Nichols was ‘not a threat’

This story will be updated throughout the day on Tuesday.

5:30 p.m. update: The prosecution finished their questioning of Emmitt Martin by asking about the Response to Resistance reports (RTRs) the officers filled out after Nichols’ beating.

Martin admitted that even though officers are supposed to describe the exact kind of force used during an incident, none of the officers involved did that. Martin said Demetrius Haley’s RTR did not say anything about him being at the second scene or kicking Nichols.

Martin was then asked about the arrest of Jesus Baez, which occurred in July 2022, six months before Tyre Nichols was beaten to death.

The Scorpion Unit was asked to go to Baez’s apartment and make an arrest. Martin said they got into Baez’s apartment and tackled him. In addition to Martin, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, and others were on the scene.

During that arrest, Martin admitted that he used force to bring Baez to the ground. He also said he punched him in the face and body.

When Lieutenant Dotson, Martin’s supervisor reviewed the footage, he offered Martin some advice.

“Turn your level of aggression off when you need to or else you will cross a boundary that will lead to excessive force,” Dotson said.

The prosecution ended its questioning of Martin by asking him if he was testifying in hopes of getting a better deal. He said he hoped the judge would show him some leniency, but that was not the only reason why.

“I am just here to accept my punishment for my wrongdoing. I am only here to attest to my punishment,” Martin said. “There comes a time where I can’t sit here and live with a lie. The truth needs to come out. It was eating me up inside to live with a lie when I knew what I did was wrong. Whatever you see on the video and whatever I’m saying is the truth. I’m ready to just get this off of me.”

During cross-examinations, Bean’s lawyer John Keith Perry pointed out inconsistencies in Martin’s statements to investigators and in his testimony. Perry said that Martin left out information he told internal affairs investigators after the incident.

Perry suggested that Martin’s testimony was rehearsed because he knew he could possibly get a better deal by the end of the trial.

He also pressed Martin on his use of certain language like “passive resistance,” saying he only started using such terms after he took a plea and started discussing his testimony with lawyers.

Perry argued that Nichols was aggressive when he was pulled over.

“You left a detail out on the stand that you previously told internal affairs,” Perry said.

Martin previously claimed that before the body camera turned on at the first scene, Nichols asked, “Why the cops always f****** with me?” but the defense argued that Martin left this information out of his testimony on Tuesday.

To wrap up the day, Stephen Leffler, Demetrius Haley’s attorney cross-examined Martin.

Leffler talked about how Martin was hit by a car while he was on duty in November 2022, and experienced trauma from the incident. He also questioned him about other traumas he’d experienced throughout his life.

Martin told Smith during a conversation after the accident that he was having “homicidal thoughts.” He admitted that after the accident he had to see someone through the department for some “mental problems”.

He said he was diagnosed with PTSD and it caused him to have nightmares, paranoia, irritability, anger issues, and chronic headaches.

Martin said he felt like the doctor wasn’t helping him with his PTSD, so he stopped seeing him. Very soon after this, Martin went back to work in the field.

When Leffler asked him about his mental health, Martin said “I had just got hit by a car. You can get hit by a car at a traffic stop. It was a lot going on.”

Leffler brought up his career in football from elementary school to college, and the trauma he has regarding his mother’s death in 2018.

In 2021, Martin also witnessed a two-year-old who was shot in the head and said that it was hard to get out of his mind.

Leffler’s cross-examination will continue on Wednesday morning.

12:30 p.m. update: Former officer Emmitt Martin provided details on the initial traffic stop that later led to Tyre Nichols’ beating, and the alleged cover-up of the beating afterward.

Martin was the first officer to interact with Nichols, saying he saw Nichols speed up to get through a red light.

Martin said he did not have a radar and does not know how fast Nichols was driving, but says “he had a little speed on him.” He pursued Nichols for around two to three minutes, and had lights on for about 30 seconds.

He said all three officers were issuing commands to Nichols at the same time while on the first scene, but officers did not tell Nichols at any point why he was stopped or being handcuffed.

Smith, Bean, and Mills were on the second scene when Martin arrived. Martin says he saw Nichols was on the ground and Smith and Bean were hitting him with closed fists.

Nichols was “not resisting violently,” and he was pulling his hands away.

Martin said he thought the other officers were just “trying to get his hands, but that wasn’t the case. They were assaulting him. They were punching him.”

Still, even though Martin said Nichols was not a threat, he said he kicked and punched Nichols several times because he was angry that Nichols ran, and that officers had pepper-sprayed themselves.

“I was already on edge and angry. When he got away that was the tip of the iceberg. Once I got sprayed I was already angry. So when he got away that’s what happened,” Martin said.

The other officers did not tell him to stop. “They should have intervened,” he said.

Martin said he did not believe they were going to report the punches in their report, saying he had an understanding with the other officers that they would not get each other in trouble.

“Im not gonna tell on them and I know they’re not gonna tell on me,” he said. “I not gonna put them in a situation where they are gonna get in trouble. We had an understanding. We gonna do what we need to do. I knew they weren’t gonna tell on me and I wasn’t gonna tell on them.”

Martin also testified he gestured for Mills to take off his body camera, because he didn’t want it to catch what they were saying after the beating.

He said the assault report the department wrote up about Nichols trying to take his gun was also full of untruths.

*****

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of the former Memphis Police officers charged in the beating death of Tyre Nichols took the stand on Monday.

Just last month Emmitt Martin III, one of the accused officers, pleaded guilty to two of the four counts against him – excessive force and conspiracy to witness tamper. Now, he is testifying against his colleagues Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith, who were also federally charged.

Martin informed the jury that he was hit by a car in the line of duty in November 2022, and went back out in the field for the first time since the accident four days before the incident involving Nichols. He said he told Justin Smith he was ready to return, but he wasn’t.

“I was seeing red. I was angry. I wanted some type of revenge,” said Martin.

He also described how the traffic stop unfolded, saying he “exaggerated” the situation to the other officers on the Scorpion Unit, causing them to treat the traffic stop as a felony offense, even though it was not one.

Martin said that none of the officers on the first scene told Nichols why they pulled him over before snatching him out of his car, which he admitted was against MPD policy. He also told the jury that Nichols was never a threat.

Martin will continue his testimony on Tuesday morning.

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