What the Tyre Nichols beating video shows
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Bodycam footage of 29-year-old father Tyre Nichols calling for his mother after being beaten by police in Memphis has been released, and the city is braced for protests.
Mr Nichols died in hospital three days after being pulled over for alleged reckless driving, and struggling with five officers who have since lost their jobs and been charged with his murder.
Video of the arrest, taken from body cameras and a surveillance camera mounted to a pole, was released in four instalments made public on Friday evening.
The BBC is updating this article as we review the footage, which is graphically violent and full of expletives.
Only a small number of people had seen it before Friday evening, including Mr Nichols' family, their legal team and several officials.
Part one: Police bodycam footage shows traffic stop
The first video released shows the initial traffic stop that led to Mr Nichols' fatal encounter with police.
Within a minute of being pulled over, officers can be heard yelling profanities and threats, and ordering him out of his car.
"I didn't do anything!" he says.
The officers then force him to the ground as the 29-year-old protests his innocence. An officer can be heard threatening to break his arms as they instruct him to get on his stomach and lie flat.
A scuffle appears to ensue in which Mr Nichols breaks free of the officers and flees on foot.
The officers deploy pepper spray and at least one taser in an unsuccessful attempt to stop him.
He is not seen again in this first portion of the video. The rest of the footage shows officers using water to spray their eyes after being hit with pepper spray.
The officer wearing the body cam - who is white and does not appear to be one of the five facing charges - can be heard saying that he hopes his fellow officers "stomp" Nichols when they find him.
Part two: Footage from pole camera shows brutal beating
The officers catch up with Mr Nichols, who is quickly taken to the ground.
As two officers are working to restrain him, a third can be seen walking up to him and kicking him in the head twice.
Moments later, a fourth officer - it is unclear who - pulls out an expandable baton and strikes Mr Nichols several times. Officers also punch him several times.
He appears to be stumbling by this time and is offering no resistance.
At the five-minute mark, Mr Nichols is on the ground and appears to be writhing. By this point, officers are no longer striking him.
He is then taken to one of the unmarked police vehicles, where he is leaned against the door. Officers are shining their torches at him and it is unclear if he is still responsive.
Part three: Bodycam footage shows Mr Nichols cry out 'Mom'
This video, taken from a police-worn body camera, captured the same brutal encounter, but from a different angle, and contained audio.
About a minute into the video, two officers can be seen wrestling with Mr Nichols. The officer wearing the body cam threatens to spray him.
"Mom!" Mr Nichols calls out in distress.
Soon after, another scuffle ensues as the police call for Mr Nichols to "give them your hands".
The officer wearing the body cam walks away, apparently having been hit with pepper spray during the confrontation.
In the background, officers can still be heard yelling at Mr Nichols to give them his hands and lie flat.
The officer wearing the body cam returns and pulls out his expandable baton - which we also saw clearly in the second video from the pole cam. Using an expletive, he yells at Mr Nichols and makes clear he plans to strike him with the baton.
He strikes him several times, and another officer can be seen punching Mr Nichols in the face while his hands are restrained behind him.
The officer wearing the body cam calls in their location, and officers can be seen struggling with Mr Nichols as more police arrive. The officer can be heard telling another that Mr Nichols made him spray himself.
The other officer replies that he tazed him, using an expletive.
The video ends with the officer wearing the bodycam walking away and panting from exhaustion.
Part four: Bodycam footage shows Tyre Nichols bleeding
The fourth and final video is from the bodycam of another unnamed officer. It shows the same incident as the third video.
The footage begins with a brief chase that ends with the officers tackling Mr Nichols.
It appears that the bodycam becomes detached from the officer, as for the first few minutes nothing can be seen and we can only hear what sounds like a scuffle and conversation.
We again hear Mr Nichols calling out for his mother, and officers using expletives while ordering him to give them his hands.
At one point, the officers can be heard telling one another that they thought Mr Nichols was "on something" - seeming to indicate that they believed he had been using drugs. There is no known evidence that this was the case.
Once the officer's bodycam is back on, we get a clearer view of Mr Nichols as he is slumped against the unmarked police car.
He appears to be injured and blood is visible on his head. He does not speak. One officer pulls him up after he slumps to the side. He is variously seen sitting up, leaning on the car or slumped on the ground.
A significant portion of the video shows officers speaking to one another and recounting details of the incident. Some of the officers claim that Mr Nichols "swung" at them or reached for their guns. Neither allegation is supported by the released video.
Another officer later claims Mr Nichols swerved and almost struck his police vehicle. Officers can also be heard discussing the fact that nothing was found in in his car.
In total, we see about 10 people stand by, with no one offering to help Mr Nichols, who is in visible distress.
NBC News Live UpdatesQuote:
Peaceful Memphis protesters close interstate
Hundreds of protesters have closed off the Interstate 55 bridge in both directions Friday night after the police body camera footage was released.
The protest was peaceful with demonstrators asking for the police to be held accountable and chanting: “Say his name, Tyre Nichols,” and “No justice, no peace.”
A protester named ST Court said he was pushing to defund the Memphis Police Department and to give officers more training.
“If there was more training, maybe Tyre wouldn’t have died,” Court said.
Others said the only way to bring about change was to make city leaders pay attention.
“I’m just supporting the movement of the people against corruption,” said Brian Iraheta, 29, of Memphis.
A demonstration organizer, Bezal Jupiter, came to Memphis from Atlanta as part of the Party of Socialism and Liberation.
“I’m tired of the oppression that we’ve seen against Black men in the South”, he said. “What we need right now is money in the community. What we need right now is the disbandment of murderous units like Scorpion. What we need right now is comprehensive overhaul of the system of policing in this country.”
Police make multiple arrests at NYC protest
Police in New York City have made at least three arrests at a protest near Times Square, a police captain told NBC News.
One arrest was for damage to a police car, a second was for punching a police officer, while the third was for an undisclosed reason, according to the official.
Police are also documenting any damage to other vehicles as protesters weave through cars. They also confiscated bikes from protesters who were trying to prevent arrests from being made.
Biden ‘outraged’ after watching ‘horrific’ video of Nichols beating
President Joe Biden on Friday night said he was “outraged and deeply pained” after watching videos of the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police.
In a statement shortly after the videos were released, Biden called the images “horrific.”
“It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day,” he said.
“The footage that was released this evening will leave people justifiably outraged,” Biden added, while urging those who seek justice “not to resort to violence or destruction.”
5 Black ex-officers beat Tyre Nichols. Black Memphis residents say it's heartbreaking and familiar.Quote:
William Jones recalls that as a teenager in Memphis, Tennessee, Black police officers would break up pickup football games with friends when a white neighbor called to complain, often inflicting physical punishment in the process.
“And a lot of times, it was the Black officers who beat us worse than white officers,” Jones, 48, said.
So, when the images of five Black officers flashed on his television screen as the ones who allegedly beat Black motorist Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop on Jan. 7, Jones did not flinch.
“I was not surprised at all,” Jones, a high-security government worker, told NBC News. “Some of these officers get behind their badge, and they forget who they came from. They really believe in blue lives matter. Some of these Black officers are good guys that came from rough neighborhoods, too. But I have seen some of them take that power — lots of them — and misuse it. They didn’t come to my neighborhood and pull no cats out of trees. They came over when we were little boys, 13, 14 years old, and roughed us up. And for no reason.”
Jones and other Black Memphis residents have shared a range of reactions to seeing five Black faces as the alleged perpetrators of Nichols’ fatal beating with NBC News. Nichols, 29, died three days after the beating. Their reactions align with data about the city’s rate of police force used against Black people. According to a 2021 report on city data by TV station WREG, Black men were seven times more likely to experience police brutality than their white male peers.
“I can’t be surprised because it’s a predominantly Black part of town with Black officers patrolling,” said Barbara Johnson, 75, and a grandmother. “The relationship with Black people and the police is not very good. Black or white officers, it’s us against them. There’s this mistrust. Period.”
Brian Harris, 44, who is running for city council in the district where Nichols was killed, said the relationship between Memphis’ Black community and law enforcement is deteriorating, with this case a touchstone for even more discord.
“I’ve seen it shift over the years,” Harris said. “And that shift has come in part because policies have been relaxed as far as the officers we onboard. A couple of years ago, they dropped the 60 hours of college credit requirement down to just having a high school diploma, which changed the dynamics of those coming in. That was due to recruiting purposes.
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20 Jan 2023, 10:05 pm
for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.
