Sixth Memphis police officer removed from duty after Tyre Nichols death

A sixth officer involved in the death of Tyre Nichols has been removed from duty, police said, as an influential group of Black elected officials has called for a meeting with Joe Biden to discuss police reform.

Officer Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty and put on what is known as administrative leave, Memphis police maj Karen Rudolph said on Monday, according to multiple reports.

Video footage released by Memphis officials last week showed officers kicking and punching Nichols and hitting him with a police baton.

Five Memphis officers were fired after the attack and have since been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

Also on Sunday, the civil rights attorney representing the Nichols family, Benjamin Crump, called for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

The bill, drafted after a Minneapolis police officer murdered Floyd in May 2020, would ban chokeholds, create national standards for policing ostensibly to increase accountability, and reform qualified immunity, which shields police officers from civil liability for misconduct.

Later that night protesters gathered outside Memphis city hall to mark the victory but said it was just the first step.