‘I’m sorry’: Ex-MPD officer Desmond Mills cries on stand in Tyre Nichols testimony

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of the former Memphis Police Scorpion Unit officers accused in the beating of Tyre Nichols testified on Tuesday in the federal trial charging three of the five officers with civil rights violations.

Desmond Mills was called to the stand Tuesday. Mills was one of the five officers originally charged in the case, but he took a deal and pleaded guilty to federal civil rights and conspiracy charges last November.

Prosecutor Forrest Christian showed body camera footage from the scene, but when asked about the footage, Mills broke down and cried on the stand.

“I wish I could have stopped the punches. It hurt to watch. It hurt inside so much. I feel bad every time a picture is on the screen and know I’m a part of that,” Mills said. “I made his child fatherless. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know sorry can’t bring him back, but I pray that his child has everything he needs growing up. Food, clothes, everything.”

He said he walked away during the beating “because I wish I didn’t see it. I wish I would have stepped in between them… I just didn’t want to be part of it.”

► MORE: Previous coverage on the trial of officers in the Tyre Nichols case

Mills said he started on the Scorpion Unit in early 2020, but right away did not like the structure and direction of the team. He said Martin and Haley were hostile toward citizens.

“I didn’t like the hostility on the team,” he said, saying that the new officers “were inexperienced and just go, go, go.”

Mills told the jury that Haley was aggressive to citizens and came to work “amped up on pre-workout.” He said Haley frequently did not have his body camera on.

Mills testified regarding the “Lauderdale incident,” which happened the night before the Tyre Nichols incident.

He said the suspect in that case was handcuffed and then kicked in the face by Haley, with Bean, Smith, and Hemphill present. No one reported the kick.

“The kick was bad, excessive, I wanted to hide it with the team,” Mills said.

He also testified about the night of the Nichols beating. While he wasn’t at the scene of the initial traffic stop, he said he was in the car with Bean, his partner, when the call went out about a resistant subject fleeing.

Nichols ran in front of their car, and Mills said he got out and ran behind him. Mills saw him again when Bean and Smith caught up with him. He was on the ground and the other officers were standing over him punching him.

“He wasn’t doing nothing as far as being a threat,” Mills said.

Mills first walked away from the scene because he sprayed himself and Nichols in the face with pepper spray. When he returned to the scene, he said he was “angry” and hit Nichols three times with his baton. He admitted to the jury that his actions were against MPD policy.

Mills later told the jury that when Demetrius Haley arrived on the scene, he said “Beat that man [expletive],” and kicked him.

“He was handcuffed. There was no reason to kick him,” Mills said.

He testified that neither he nor the other officers on the scene informed their supervisor, Lieutenant DeWayne Smith about the beating or the conversations the officers had afterward.

“It was ugly. I knew it didn’t look good and it was wrong,” said Mills.

The jury was released at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Desmond Mills will continue his testimony on Wednesday morning.

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