The list of suspects named in the Tyre Nichols case just keeps on growing. Two Shelby County sheriff’s deputies have been disciplined in connection to the brutal traffic stop, according NBC News. The two were accused of neglecting to alert dispatch they were witnesses to Nichols’ beaten and bloodied body.
Jeremy Watkins and Johntavious Bowers were suspended without pay for five days after violating several department policies. The report says they are being investigated because they never informed a supervisor via radio dispatch that they were at the scene - which would have allowed proper oversight of the incident and necessary actions to help Nichols. They also didn’t keep their body cameras activated, just like the five officers criminally charged in the beating.
Watkins also failed to note the stop on his daily activity log, making it seem as if he wasn’t there.
“Because I had concerns about two deputies who appeared on the scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols, I ordered this internal investigation,” said Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr.
Read more about the investigation from ABC News:
Both suspensions went into effect on Wednesday. The sheriff’s office said it “believes it is appropriate to release the outcome of the internal review at this time” due to its “current belief that there will be no charges” against the two deputies from the ongoing investigation by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Meanwhile, over at the Memphis Fire Department, three employees were fired for failing to tend to Nichols’ injuries. Per The Commercial Appeal, the three are still able to retain their pension benefits despite being disciplined.
It doesn’t seem like anyone who had a hand in this incident should collect any checks. Though the deputies are facing department charges, morally they were wrong for not intervening to save a life.