Documents released Tuesday provided a scathing account of what authorities called the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop last month — including new revelations about how one officer took and shared pictures of the bloodied victim.

The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols as he lay propped against a police car and took photographs, which Haley sent to other officers and a female acquaintance, according to documents released by the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission.

“Your on-duty conduct was unjustly, blatantly unprofessional and unbecoming for a sworn public servant,” the Memphis Police Department wrote in requesting that Haley and the other officers be decertified.

Haley’s lawyer declined to comment, and lawyers for the other four officers either declined to comment or did not respond to requests from The Associated Press.

The five officers — Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — have all been fired and charged with second-degree murder. The new documents offer the most detailed account to date of each officer’s actions.

Another officer has also been fired and a seventh has been relieved of duty in connection with the latest police killing to prompt angry nationwide protests and an intense public conversation about how police officers treat Black residents.

As many as 13 Memphis officers could end up being disciplined, officials said Tuesday.

The newly released documents are part of a request by the Memphis Police Department that the five officers who have been charged with murder be decertified and prohibited from working in law enforcement again. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis signed each of the five requests to decertify the officers.

Haley, who was driving an unmarked car and wore a black sweatshirt hoodie over his head, forced Nichols from his car using loud profanity, then sprayed him directly in the eyes with a chemical irritant spray, according to the statement.

“You never told the driver the purpose of the vehicle stop or that he was under arrest,” it states.

Haley did not have his body camera on when he stopped Nichols but was on a phone call with someone who overheard the encounter.

Nichols ran from the officers but was apprehended again a few blocks away. At that point, Haley kicked him in the torso as three other officers were handcuffing him. Other officers kicked Nichols in the face, punched him or struck him with a baton. According to footage captured on a utility pole camera, one of the officers appears to quickly take a photo of Nichols on his phone as flashlights are shined on him.

“You and other officers were captured on body worn camera making multiple unprofessional comments, laughing, bragging about your involvement,” the decertification charges against Mills said.

They added, “You admitted you did not provide immediate medical aid and walked away and decontaminated yourself from chemical irritant spray,” and further accused Mills of later failing to give Nichols’ mother an accurate account of what happened.

Martin claimed Nichols tried to snatch the officer’s gun from his holster after another officer forced him out of the vehicle, with Martin helping by grabbing Nichols’ wrist. However, video evidence doesn’t corroborate the gun-grab claim, the documents said.

Audio from a body camera did not capture Nichols using profanity or making violent threats — instead, he appeared calm and polite in his comments to the officers. Martin, meanwhile, cussed at Nichols and threatened to knock him out as he commanded Nichols to put his arm behind his back.

Martin also failed to disclose in a required form that he punched Nichols in the face and kicked him multiple times, and instead added in his later statement to investigators that he gave “body blows,” the documents said. Video showed Martin kicking Nichols repeatedly and punching him in the face five times while two officers held Nichols’ arms.

Police deemed Martin’s oral and written statements deceitful, the charges said.

A hearing officer wrote of Justin Smith: “You admitted you struck an unarmed and non-violent subject with a closed fist two to three times in the face because you and your partner were unable to handcuff him. … You sprayed the subject with your chemical irritant spray and also held the individual’s arm while other officers kicked, punched and pepper sprayed him several times.”

In a letter from Smith included in his file, he defends his conduct, stating that Nichols was “violent and would not comply.”

Bean was accused of holding Nichols by one arm while another officer pepper sprayed and beat him with a baton. It also notes that his indifference to Nichols’ distress in the aftermath was reported by a civilian who took video of the incident.

Nichols died three days after the beating. His family attended the State of the Union address Tuesday as guests of first lady Jill Biden.
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U.S. basketball star LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers became the National Basketball Association’s all-time leading scorer Tuesday. 

James hit a two-point basket late in the third quarter in the game against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder to surpass the 38,387 career points held by Lakers’ legend and Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar, who was in Crypto.com Arena to watch the historic moment, had held the record since April 5,1984.  

James entered Tuesday’s game needing just 36 points to break the record. He finished the game with 38 points, giving him 38,390 points for his career to date. But the Thunder won the game 133-130. 

The record adds to James’s already illustrious 20-year NBA career, which began as an 18-year-old rookie with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has since won four NBA championships, four season Most Valuable Player awards and four NBA Finals MVP awards. 

Following James and Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA’s all-time scoring list are Karl Malone, the late Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, universally considered to be the greatest NBA player of all time. Another Lakers’ legend, the late Wilt Chamberlain, is in seventh-place with 31,419 points. 

When asked in a post-game interview with retired great Shaquille O’Neal, who won three NBA titles with the Lakers, if he was now the greatest player in NBA history, James said he always feels like “I’m the best to ever play this game” but said he was happy to be mentioned with the league’s other great players.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
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President Joe Biden spoke directly to the American people and a divided Congress Tuesday evening in his State of the Union address. Rising tensions with China and a lingering war in Ukraine were the main foreign policy issues, as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.
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U.S. President Joe Biden struck an optimistic, determined tone in his second State of the Union address Tuesday night, lauding his legislative and policy achievements, reiterating his stances on contesting China and supporting Ukraine, and proclaiming that “though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”

“Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the state of the union is strong,” Biden said. “I’m not new to this place. I stand here tonight — and I’ve served as long as about any one of you have ever served — I have never been more optimistic about the future of America. We just have to remember who we are. We are the United States of America and there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together.”

Biden’s words were delivered to a Congress whose leader, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has vowed to use his slim majority in the House of Representatives to oppose many of Biden’s priorities. For much of the speech, McCarthy sat stone-faced behind him in the chamber, sternly shaking his head when Biden criticized Republicans’ economic policies.

Biden also used his platform to appeal to Republicans, who jeered when Biden criticized cost-cutting positions advocated by some of them, which he said will target entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

“Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere,” he said. “That’s always been my vision of our country, and I know it’s many of yours: to restore the soul of this nation, to rebuild the backbone of America.”

The bread and the butter

Biden spoke at length and in detail about the issue that Americans reliably say is crucial to them, saying, “We’re building an economy where no one’s left behind. Jobs are coming back. Pride is coming back.”

And he argued that Congress should raise the debt ceiling, which is the maximum amount the U.S. Treasury can borrow to pay its bills. The U.S. hit its debt limit of $31.4 trillion in January. Congress now has until midyear to decide to raise the limit before the U.S. defaults. McCarthy has said Republicans will continue to oppose what they see as excessive spending.

“Let us commit here, tonight, that the full faith and credit of the United States of America will never, ever be questioned,” Biden said.

Biden also outlined his views on gun policy, calling for a renewed assault weapons ban. He called on Congress to enact his immigration reform plan — or, failing that, to at least approve a plan to add equipment and resources to secure the border.

On one contentious and divisive topic, however, he was concise: “Make no mistake;” he said. “If Congress passes a national abortion ban, I will veto it.”

Special guests

As is custom in this pomp-filled evening, the president honored special guests who symbolized some of the issues.

For the second year in a row, Biden welcomed Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. to the address, repeating his vow that the U.S. will support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion for “as long as it takes.”

Also present were the parents of slain Memphis resident Tyre Nichols, 29, who was killed by five police officers in January. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have used the tragedy to urge Congress to revisit the stalled police reform act that Democrats proposed after the 2020 killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

“I know most cops are good, decent people,” Biden said, as Nichols’ parents stood several times while the chamber repeatedly applauded them. “They risk their lives every time they put on that shield. But what happened to Tyre in Memphis happens too often. We have to do better.”

And one guest who drew a standing ovation was not even present in the chamber. In promoting his Cancer Moonshot program, which aims to cut the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years, Biden said he had invited 3-year-old Ava, who suffered from a rare kidney cancer, to watch the address from the nation’s most famous home.

Ava’s parents, who attended the speech, “just found out that Ava’s beating the odds and is on her way to being cancer free,” Biden said. “And she’s watching from the White House tonight — if she’s not asleep already.”

The takeaways

In a rebuttal speech from the Republican Party, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders criticized Biden’s policies on immigration and the economy; slammed his gun and police reform proposals; described his foreign policy as weak, and questioned his fitness for office.

“Being a mom to three young children taught me not to believe every story I hear,” she said, “so forgive me for not believing much of anything I heard tonight from President Biden. From out-of-control inflation and violent crime to the dangerous border crisis and threat from China, Biden and the Democrats have failed you.”

This sets up a political and legislative challenge for Biden as he embarks on his next two years in office with the Republican party holding the reins of Congress’ lower house.

And, she said, perhaps previewing Republicans’ 2024 strategy, she drew a firm line under Republicans’ fiscally and socially conservative views.

“His administration has been completely hijacked by the radical left,” she said. “The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy. It’s time for a new generation of Republican leadership.”

Ahead of the speech, analysts said Biden needed to use the platform to convince the public of his vigor, something his detractors have questioned as he appears poised to announce another run for office, in 2024. His critics question whether, at 80, he is too old to serve another term.

The address was “perhaps his best speech as president,” said Jeremi Suri, a professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and “a strong statement of his record and he made his agenda sound reasonable, moderate and personal (especially for seniors). He emphasized protection for seniors, help for the vulnerable, tax fairness and defense of democracy. He made his detractors and hecklers look extreme, unreasonable.”

Jonathan McCollum, a political strategist and lobbyist, told VOA that Biden used the address to sketch out his party’s plan for 2024.

“In both substance and delivery, President Biden used this opportunity to highlight the significant legislative accomplishments of his administration, while also demonstrating he has the energy to serve as president for another term,” McCollum said. “This was the first glimpse into how Democrats plan to market their party and their candidates heading into the next election cycle.”
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Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary under Donald Trump, will deliver the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union.

Huckabee Sanders, who describes herself as a conservative reformer, will speak from the state capital Little Rock after Biden’s remarks on Tuesday before a joint session of Congress.

It will be Biden’s first State of the Union since Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in November’s election.

Both addresses could serve as a primer for the 2024 presidential campaign season as Democrats and Republicans seek to shape public perceptions in front of a large television audience. The federal debt limit, social spending, the war in Ukraine and policing in minority communities are among the biggest topics driving political discourse.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in a joint announcement last week, heralded Sanders as a rising figure in the party.

“Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the youngest governor in the nation and a powerful advocate for the popular, commonsense conservative principles that will put our country back on a better course,” McConnell said in the statement.

Huckabee Sanders, 40, served as then-President Trump’s second press secretary from mid-2017 to mid-2019. She is the daughter of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, also a Republican.

Elected last year, in January, she became the first woman to lead the state of Arkansas.
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