MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Jesse Guy, the paramedic who treated Tyre Nichols on scene and to the hospital, finished his testimony Thursday in the federal trial against three former Memphis Police Department officers.
In day nine of the trial against Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith, Guy finished cross examination from defense attorneys who questioned what happened Jan. 7, 2023.
Those three officers were now-disbanded SCORPION unit officers who had been indicted for their role in the stop of Tyre Nichols on January 7, 2023. Nichols died three days later at St. Francis Hospital.
Two other officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills, accepted plea deals in the case.
Before the jury was brought in, defense attorney Martin Zummach argued that his client, Justin Smith, told Memphis Fire Department EMTs that they needed to give Nichols oxygen.
Zummach said it was his understanding that the prosecutors will bring up a doctor who said Nichols died from a lack of oxygen to the brain.
Because of the argument, Zummach said he needed to show the videos of EMTs treating Nichols before Guy got to the scene.
Guy watched the videos and questioned on whether he was told anything by MFD EMTs on scene again. Guy reiterated his testimony from Wednesday that he received no information on treatment other than he had gone unresponsive.
Prosecutors asked Guy if officers had told him that Nichols had been repeatedly struck in the head, to which he said no.
Fire alarm operator takes the stand
Cloe Smith from Memphis Fire Department was then called to the stand. Smith works as a fire alarm operator and worked the night Nichols was stopped.
Smith said the information she received from the initial call was just that a man had been pepper sprayed and nothing else was mentioned.
Fourteen minutes after the fire truck was sent out, an ambulance was sent out.
Smith said that if more information had been given to MFD, an ambulance could have been sent out immediately cause the call would’ve been elevated.
Defense attorneys highlighted that the information received by MFD was from MPD dispatch and not from the officers.
St. Francis Hospital worker who treated Tyre Nichols testifies
Prosecutors called Dr. Michelle Surbrook to the stand. Surbook treated Nichols at St. Francis Hospital at the ER.
Surbrook said it was unusual to have such a young person in cardiac arrest, and was told he had been in a traffic stop and pepper sprayed.
Surbrook said that roughly five minutes after Nichols arrived, they were able to get a pulse back. That conflicts with Guy’s testimony where he recalled that the pulse was back by the time they got to the hospital.
“I was more focused on saving my patients life,” Surbrook said in response to whether she spoke to an officer.
She was not cross examined.
Former MPD and SCORPION officer talks about Martin and Haley beating man up in prior arrest
Prosecutors called up former MPD and SCORPION officer Kyle Coudriet before the court broke for lunch.
He was on the unit from November 2021 to December 2022.
Coudriet said he had seen officers use force to punish someone and referred to the “run tax.”
The former officer said all of the defendants had spoken about it.
Coudriet was then questioned about a prior arrest of Jesus Valles, and the force he saw on the arrest.
The officer said he saw Martin and Haley both throw punches at Valles and were not trying to handcuff him.
Officers then threw Valles against sliding doors, Coudriet said.
When they were transporting Valles to a car, Coudriet said that multiple officers had body worn cameras that were dead, but his was activated.
Coudriet followed behind to help transport and said he was afraid something bad would happen due to the nature of the arrest.
Coudriet said he was shooed away by officer Jesse Acosta, but his body worn camera captured Haley punching Valles while handcuffed. He then admitted to covering the camera.
“I was ashamed of not being able to stop the situation before it happened,” Coudriet said.
After a recess, body camera footage from Coudriet was shown at the Valles arrest.
Video shows Martin and Haley on top of Valles throwing punches and then tossing him against a sliding door multiple times after being cuffed.
Coudriet identified officer Jesse Acosta on the video who appears to motion for Coudriet to step back as they are leading him out.
Coudriet can then be seen covering his body worn camera with his hand, briefly uncovering it and seeing Haley punch Valles before covering it again.
A comment was made by Coudriet to an officer saying they would see it through. Coudriet claimed it meant finishing the case in court but defense attorneys pushed on whether he meant some sort of retaliation.
Coudriet said he covered the camera again and turned around because Haley was reaching back to swing again.
Coudriet said he never saw Valles spit at Haley and later told his lieutenant about the force use.
Another arrest was shown of Marcus Bills, in which Haley punched Bills while in handcuffs.
Bills had ran away after slipping out of a handcuff. He was chased and tackled, Coudriet admitted to hitting him in the back.
When Bills was handcuffed, Haley punched him. The punch can be seen from in-car cameras from the night.
Haley told Coudriet he was afraid he would get in trouble for it. Coudriet turned away before the punch and even directed another officer to do so as well.
“I knew there was going to be another incident that I didn’t want to be a part of,” Coudriet said.
But he never reported Haley’s force to a superior.
Haley’s response to resistance for from the Bills arrest once again claims he was going to be spit on, and he, “redirected his face.”
Coudriet met with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in June 2023, and admitted he lied to investigators because he, “was scared.”
Prosecutors showed text messages between Coudriet and Bean from the night
Martin had been hit by a car asking if everyone was okay.
One text read, “I know y’all gone give him that tax,” when they found him.
Coudriet said Martin told him he didn’t know if would be able “to stop” if he found the driver who hit him.
During cross examination, Coudriet admitted that turning away from the Valles punch was, “a decision in weakness.”