Tyre Nichols, Who Was Killed by Police After Being Abused, May Be Seen on Video Screaming for His Mother.

Tyre Nichols pleaded for his mother as Memphis police officers beat him many times, striking him in the face while his hands were shackled, at the conclusion of the black man’s fatal contact with the officers this month, according to a video made public by the city.
And even when paramedics show up only minutes after the police withdraw, it seems like Nichols was abandoned on the street more than once before an ambulance arrived.
The traffic stop and assault on January 7 that resulted in the 29-year-old hospital patient’s death from his injuries three days later were captured on body cameras and surveillance footage that the city published on Friday night. The five dismissed Memphis police officers, all of whom are black, were charged with murder the day before their release.
Authorities, including President Joe Biden, expressed indignation over the video, calling it “yet another heartbreaking reminder of the tremendous terror and trauma, the anguish, and the tiredness that Black and Brown Americans feel every single day.” Law enforcement specialists were astounded by the film.
Regular updates: Memphis publishes the footage of Tyre Nichols’ arrest.
Following the release of the recordings, protesters in Memphis flocked to Interstate 55 on Friday night, shutting down both lanes of the bridge linking the western Tennessee city with Arkansas.

Near Memphis, Tennessee’s downtown, protesters blockade traffic on the Interstate 55 bridge. from Ariel Cobbert

The basic facts of Nichols’ experience were as follows: In Memphis, police stopped Nichols for what they first claimed to be careless driving. After being forced out of his car by police, the man resisted and ran away. Moments later, police caught up with him and repeatedly struck or kicked him, as shown on camera. The videos contain the following instances:

the first meeting

According to body cam footage from an officer who arrived on the scene at about 8:24 p.m., Nichols appeared composed during their initial conversation following the traffic stop.
An officer is screaming at Nichols to “Get the fuck out of the car” as the police approach the scene.
Someone can be heard yelling, “Get the fuck on the ground and turn his ass around,” as police take Nichols out of the car. I didn’t do anything,” Nichols replies, adding, “Alright, I’m on the ground.”
The police shout at him to sit down and yell at him that they will taze him. “Bitch, put your hands behind your back before I break them,” an officer commands.
They can hear Nichols saying, “You guys are working really hard right now. All I want to do is get home. “”I’m on the floor!”
One cop uses pepper spray on Nichols around 8:25 o’clock in the evening. Nichols then clumsily rises to his feet and flees from the cop as one of them fires a taser at him that ostensibly missed.
An altercation starts. As Nichols stands up and flees, the police pursue him.

Screams can be heard as Nichols is once again apprehended.

Minutes later, at about 8:34 p.m., in another body camera video, cops grab Nichols on a residential street. The footage shows an officer showing up in this situation while Nichols screams for his mother.

Nichols is instructed to “give them his hand” by officers while a scuffle takes place on the ground. Nichols is asked by an officer, “Do you want to get sprayed again?” Nichols is on the ground when two cops strike and kick him. “Mooooom!” shouts Nichols as he calls out to his mother for a long time. Finally, Nichols hears a cop shouting at him: “I’ll beat the crap out of you with a baton. “”Give me your hands, please.”

repeatedly struck without apparent provocation

The best view of the blows is provided by a neighborhood police surveillance camera positioned on a faraway pole. This demonstrates officers striking Nichols at least nine times without apparent cause.
When the camera initially comes to the scene, one cop uses a knee or leg to forcefully push Nichols to the ground. Nichols is lifted by the shoulders and given two kicks to the face.
Nichols gets struck in the back with what seems to be a nightstick after being forced to sit up. Nichols is struck again after being forced to his knees.
After being lifted to his feet, the video depicts cops striking Nichols many times in the face while holding his hands behind his body until he drops to his knees. In less than a minute, Nichols seems to be kicked by an officer. Officers release Nichols, and he rolls on his back more than three minutes after the interaction is initially seen on this video.
After being dragged along the pavement and placed up against the side of a car for one minute, Nichols is mostly ignored by police for the following three and a half minutes.
Police officers may be heard discussing the interaction in body camera footage.
One cop claims, “He swung, banged, and almost struck me.” A second officer reports, “Then he grabbed for the gun,” which is unheard.
Nichols “got his hand on my pistol,” according to one officer, and “motherfucker was holding it.”
Later, an officer gives the following account of the Nichols traffic stop: “We made an effort to stop him. “”He didn’t pause.”
An officer claims that he drove around, swerved, and almost hit my car, an officer claims.
After viewing the recordings, Van Jones, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama, stated the following to CNN: “In the course of the initial interaction, “(Nichols) goes from a voice of calm to terror… to anguish.”
Former New York City police Lt. Darrin Porcher told CNN, “It’s certainly excessive force.” What’s even more disturbing is that no cop was willing to step in and order them to stop.

Tyre Nichols seems to get pepper sprayed by police in this image from a video that the City of Memphis released. Memphis City

repeatedly abandoned on the ground.

Around 8:41 p.m., ten minutes into the pole-camera footage, after the cops have left the scene, Nichols is first approached by a person who looks to be a paramedic. But before an ambulance arrived, emergency personnel frequently left Nichols.
Nichols is shown sliding over to the side and appearing to bang his head hard against a piece of equipment two minutes after paramedics began providing care for him. This happens after a bright light is shined in his face. Nichols tries to sit up but falls down again, and no one seems to assist him.
Officers are seen swarming over Nichols for almost a minute before backing off as he again falls on his side.
The first responders then stood over Nichols for approximately five minutes, periodically shining a light in his direction.
Unaided, Nichols turns on the ground. The pole-camera footage reveals that around three minutes later, the medical supplies are eventually carried back to Nichols’ side.
From the moment paramedics initially emerged on the scene until an ambulance eventually drove within view of the camera at 9:02 p.m., 21 minutes had passed, according to the video.

After seeing the footage, the sheriff puts two deputies on leave.

The Shelby County sheriff watched the tapes on Friday and immediately placed two of his deputies on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Following the violent altercation between police and Tyre Nichols, two deputies arrived on the scene, and sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. expressed his worries about them.
“I’ve started an internal inquiry into these deputies’ actions to find out what happened and whether any rules were broken. In anticipation of the conclusion of the administrative inquiry, both of these deputies have been removed from their duties.”
Two fire department workers who assisted Nichols with “initial patient care” had already been placed on leave “until an internal investigation is performed,” a representative for the agency told CNN’s Nadia Romero.
According to the US Department of Justice, the death of Nichols is the subject of a federal civil rights investigation. “Actions that go against humanity,” the police chief said, The footage, according to Memphis’ police chief, will depict “acts that defy mankind,” he warned earlier on Friday.

Here are the reactions of family members and authorities to the videotape of Tyre Nichols’ arrest.

Prior to the public release of the footage, Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis of the police told CNN’s Don Lemon that there was no evidence to support the police’s contention that Nichols had driven recklessly before his tragic collision.
Before the tapes were made public, RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, told CNN on Friday: “It’s still like a nightmare right now.”
Wells stated, “I’m still trying to make sense of it all and attempt to wrap my brain around it. “My baby isn’t here yet. “I’ll never become a mother again.”

Memphis police officers, according to Tyre Nichols’ mother, “brought humiliation” to their families and the Black community.

Police authorities in several major cities throughout the country have stated that they are keeping an eye out for any potential public outrage this weekend over what may be seen in the video.
Particularly with the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the widespread protest movement known as “Black Lives Matter,” police forces around the country have been under fire for how they treat Black people.
Prior to the release of the tapes, Wells urged her followers to keep their protests nonviolent. She said at a vigil on Thursday in Memphis that she wanted “each and every one of you to demonstrate in peace.”
Wells declared, “I don’t want us to burn down our towns or tear up the streets because it is not what my son stood for. And you’ll protest peacefully if you’re here for me and Tyre, I promise.
Wednesday will see Nichols’ funeral in a Memphis church.

The Memphis Police Department’s officers are seen beating Tyre Nichols on a street corner in this still image from a video that the City of Memphis has made public. Memphis City

A February arraignment is expected for five terminated officers.

The five Memphis police officers, whose names have been released, were Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin, and Desmond Mills Jr. They were terminated on January 20 for breaking rules, including those governing the use of excessive force, according to the police.
The next week, they were charged. Each has been accused of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct, and one count of official oppression, according to Mulroy, the district attorney for Shelby County.
Shelby County Jail records show that Martin and Haley have been released from custody after posting $350,000 bonds, while Smith, Bean, and Mills Jr. have each posted $250,000 bonds to be freed.
On February 17, an arraignment for the five former police officers is set.
A lawyer representing one of the policemen, Mills Jr., Blake Ballin, said that his client feels “remorseful” to be “associated with the killing” of Nichols and that he doesn’t believe his client “is capable of” making the claims.
Though he has spoken to others who have seen the video, Ballin told CNN that he has not yet viewed it. Those who view the footage are asked to “respect each of these cops as an individual,” he said.
The degree of responsibility for these five officers’ actions varies, and Ballin predicted that viewers of the film would discover that his client, Desmond Mills, was not actually responsible for the offenses for which he was accused.