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Memphis officer took, shared photos of bloodied Tyre Nichols

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Memphis officer took, shared photos of bloodied Tyre Nichols

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Paperwork launched Tuesday offered a scathing account of what authorities referred to as the “blatantly unprofessional” conduct of 5 officers concerned within the deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols throughout a visitors cease final month — together with new revelations about how one officer took and shared photos of the bloodied sufferer.

The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols as he lay critically injured from the beating and took pictures, which he despatched to different officers and a feminine acquaintance, in keeping with paperwork launched by the Tennessee Peace Officers Requirements and Coaching Fee.

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

Haley’s lawyer declined to remark, and attorneys for the opposite 4 officers both declined to remark or didn’t reply to requests from The Related Press.

The 5 officers — Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Emmitt Martin III — have all been fired and charged with second-degree homicide. The brand new paperwork, signed by Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis, provide essentially the most detailed account so far of every particular person officer’s actions in the course of the incident. Davis signed every of the 5 requests to decertify the officers.

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One other officer has additionally been fired and a seventh has been relieved of responsibility. As many as 13 Memphis officers may find yourself being disciplined in reference to the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, officers mentioned Tuesday.

The newly launched paperwork are a part of a request by the Memphis Police Division that the 5 officers who’ve been charged with homicide be decertified and prohibited from working in legislation enforcement once more.

Haley, who was driving an unmarked automobile and wore a black sweatshirt hoodie over his head, compelled Nichols from his automobile utilizing loud profanity, then sprayed him immediately within the eyes with a chemical irritant spray, in keeping with the assertion.

“You by no means informed the driving force the aim of the automobile cease or that he was beneath arrest,” it states.

Haley didn’t have his physique digicam on when he stopped Nichols however was on a telephone name with somebody who overheard the encounter.

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Nichols ran from the officers however was apprehended once more just a few blocks away. At that time, Haley kicked him within the torso as three different officers had been handcuffing him. Different officers kicked Nichols within the face, punched him or struck him with a baton. In response to footage captured on a utility pole digicam, one of many officers seems to shortly take a photograph of Nichols on his telephone on the 7:55 minute mark as flashlights are shined on him.

“You and different officers had been captured on physique worn digicam making a number of unprofessional feedback, laughing, bragging about your involvement,” the decertification prices in opposition to Mills mentioned.

The decertification prices in opposition to Mills famous, “You admitted you didn’t present instant medical help and walked away and decontaminated your self from chemical irritant spray.”

Martin claimed Nichols tried to seize the officer’s gun from his holster after one other officer compelled him out of the automobile, the police chief wrote. Audio from a physique digicam didn’t seize Nichols utilizing profanity or making violent threats. Martin, in the meantime, used disparagingly profane language as he commanded Nichols to place his arm behind his again.

On a required kind, Martin claimed Nichols grabbed his responsibility weapon earlier than the officers took him to the bottom. Nonetheless, video proof doesn’t corroborate that, the police chief wrote. Martin later informed investigators that the small print had been right. Martin additionally did not disclose that he punched Nichols within the face and kicked him a number of instances within the kind, and as a substitute added in his later assertion to investigators that he gave “physique blows.”

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Police deemed the oral and written statements as deceitful, the chief wrote.

Nichols died three days after the beating.

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Related Press reporters Travis Loller and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed. Mattise reported from Nashville.

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Top US Senate Democrat to block Trump DOJ nominees over Qatar airplane

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Top US Senate Democrat to block Trump DOJ nominees over Qatar airplane
U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday vowed to block all of President Donald Trump’s nominees to the Justice Department until the agency reports what it knows about Qatar’s offer to give Trump’s administration a $400 million airplane.
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Self-proclaimed 'king of Germany' arrested in plot to overthrow government

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Self-proclaimed 'king of Germany' arrested in plot to overthrow government

The self-styled “king” of Germany and three of his senior “subjects” were arrested for attempting to overthrow the state, according to media reports. 

Peter Fitzek, 59, was taken into police custody during morning raids conducted Tuesday in seven German states, the BBC reported. 

Fitzek’s group, the Reichsbürger, or “citizens of the Reich,” has also been banned by the government. 

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Peter Fitzek, the self-proclaimed head of the so-called “Kingdom of Germany,” poses for a photo with the kingdom’s constitution in Wittenberg, Germany, Oct. 23, 2023.   (Jens Schlueter/AFP via Getty Images)

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The group’s aim is to establish the Königreich Deutschland, or “Kingdom of Germany.”

“I have no interest in being part of this fascist and satanic system,” Fitzek previously told the news outlet in a 2022 interview.

Reichsbürgers reportedly have their own currency, flag and identification cards and want to set up separate banking and health systems.

The Reichsbürger undermined “the rule of law,” said Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s interior minister, by creating an alternative state and spreading “antisemitic conspiracy narratives to back up their supposed claim to authority,” the news report states. 

GERMANY’S NEW LEADER LOOKS TO DISTANCE EUROPE FROM TRUMP

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Fake German currency

Peter Fitzek, the self-proclaimed head of the so-called “Kingdom of Germany,” shows the paper currency he created himself in Wittenberg, Germany, Oct. 23, 2023.  (Jens Schlueter/AFP)

He said the group finances itself through crime. 

Fitzek, who claims to have thousands of “subjects,” denied having violent intentions but also called Germany “destructive and sick.”

In 2022, dozens of people associated with the Reichsbürger were arrested for plotting to overthrow the German government in Berlin. They were accused of planning a violent coup, which included kidnapping the health minister in an effort to create “civil war conditions” to bring down German democracy, according to the BBC. 

Passports and IDs made by a German man accused of trying to overthrow the state

Self-made identity and banking documents of the so-called “Kingdom of Germany” are pictured in Wittenberg, Germany, Oct. 23, 2023. (Jens Schlueter/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Once dismissed as eccentric by critics, the group is now seen within Germany as a serious threat as the far right has grown politically over the past decade, the report said. 

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Costa calls for reforms in Bosnia to ensure EU membership progress

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Costa calls for reforms in Bosnia to ensure EU membership progress
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After his trip to Belgrade, European Council President António Costa visited Sarajevo on Tuesday as part of his Balkans tour. He was given a warm reception upon his arrival before meeting with Bosnia’s presidency.

In a statement, the European Council chief announced that the EU “remains committed” to the country’s European future. He also praised Željka Cvijanović, Denis Bećirović, and Željko Komšić — members of the Western Balkan country’s three-way presidency — for their role in maintaining stability and security in the country and the region.

Recently, tensions have been brewing domestically over the leader of the entity of the Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik’s actions, which the state-level authorities denounced for undermining the country’s constitutional order.

Western powers and the EU have condemned Dodik for his provocations after he had suggested that the Dayton Agreement, the peace agreement that formally ended the Bosnian War in 1995, had outlived its purpose.

In his statement, Costa underlined the importance of the Dayton accords, set to mark its 30th anniversary this year.

“And this year, on the 30th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide and the Dayton (and) Paris Agreement, I believe that it is an important message to remember,” said Costa.

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Costa also outlined that some reforms are needed to ensure Bosnia remains on the path to EU membership.

“We need the approval of two judiciary laws, the appointment of a chief negotiator, and the adoption of the reform agenda to move towards on the Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European path.”

Bosnia is the only country that does not benefit from the EU’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. Costa stressed that implementing these reforms is of paramount importance to ensure that Bosnia’s citizens benefit from the EU plan.

“I would like to see Bosnia and Herzegovina joining the other Western Balkans partners in profiting from all that the European Union has to offer,” the Council president noted.

Costa will next travel to Montenegro and Albania on Wednesday, for meetings with President Jakub Milatović in Podgorica and President Bajram Begaj in Tirana. He’ll conclude his tour with a visit to Skopje in North Macedonia, where he will meet Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski.

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Additional sources • AP

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