Tennessee Moves to Decertify Officers Who Beat Tyre Nichols

Memphis police officials have also sought the decertification of Dewayne M. Smith, the police lieutenant who retired a day before a scheduled disciplinary hearing. At that hearing, officials said they would have recommended that Mr. Smith, the on-scene supervisor in the area that night, be fired, had he not retired.

In internal documents, the Memphis police said that after Mr. Smith had arrived on the scene, Mr. Nichols, his face bloodied and his wrists handcuffed, said “I can’t breathe” and slumped over. But Mr. Smith did not call for the handcuffs to be removed or remove them himself so that medical technicians could start to treat Mr. Nichols.

Mr. Smith is heard in body-camera video insinuating that Mr. Nichols was intoxicated, and told Mr. Nichols’s family that Mr. Nichols was in custody for driving under the influence, but there was no evidence of such charges.

Mr. Smith did not mention in his incident report or in two interviews with investigators that Mr. Nichols had trouble breathing, though he said so to another senior officer on duty. Officials said that Mr. Smith did not adequately take command that night and did not instruct officers “to disclose accurate details of physical force or preserving evidence.” And he was not wearing his body camera that night — a violation of department policy.

A few days before the hearing, Memphis police officials tried to rescind the request to decertify Mr. Smith, prompting frustration in Memphis, where some council members were already incensed at the possibility that he could retain his pension.

Ben Crump, a lawyer for the Nichols family, wrote on Twitter that it was “extremely disturbing” that the police force had allowed Mr. Smith to retire. “Memphis police and officials should do everything in their power to hold Lt. Smith accountable and not let his cowardice in resigning sidestep the consequences of his actions!”

By Thursday morning, the department had ceased trying to rescind the decertification request, a spokesman for the commission said. But since Mr. Smith had not been formally informed of the request and the hearing, the commission delayed offering a recommendation about him.