The video of five Memphis police officers viciously beating Tyre Nichols, a Black man whose death led to murder charges against the cops, includes “acts that defy humanity,” and a “disregard for life,” Memphis Police Director Cerelyn Davis told CNN’s Don Lemon.
Video of the traffic stop will be released to the public sometime Friday night, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said.
Davis said she first learned of the incident at about 4 a.m. the morning after the Jan. 7 traffic stop at which the officers confronted Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx worker who died from his injuries three days later.
She said the confrontation shows “a level of physical interaction that is above and beyond what is required in law enforcement.”
“I was outraged,” she said of what she saw on the tape. “It was incomprehensible to me. It was unconscionable. And I felt that I needed to do something and do something quickly. I don’t think I’ve witnessed anything of that nature my entire career.”
“I don’t want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for. If you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully.”
RowVaughn Wells, Tyre Nichols’ mother
Davis warned that viewers “will feel what the family felt. And if you don’t, then you’re not human being. And we all are human beings. And I think there will be a measure of sadness as well.”
All five of the officers were fired from the Memphis force, and have been charged with second-degree murder aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Court records showed that all five former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — were taken into custody, The Associated Press reported.
The video will show two separate incidents, the initial traffic stop, followed by the beating that Nichols received from the cops after they caught him running away.
Nichols’ family said the officers beat him for three minutes, an assault that has been likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Rodney King.
The officers were part of the city’s “Scorpion” unit — an acronym for “Street crime operations to restore peace in our neighborhoods” — that was created in 2021 to respond to a violent crime increase in the city. That year, Memphis city had 346 homicides. By comparison, Los Angeles, with six times the population of Memphis, had 397.
Davis said the questions in the case start at the very beginning, with concerns over the legitimacy of stopping Nichols for reckless driving.
The stop itself, which was supposedly related to reckless driving, but the chief said a review of survellience videos around the city has not produced any evidence for a legitimate stop.
“We’ve looked at cameras, we’ve looked at body worn cameras, and even if something occurred prior to the stop, we’ve been unable to substantiate that at this time,” she said, explaining that the review included cameras on the street and even in businesses nearby. “Any video footage that we could potentially pick up to see what occurred prior to this stuff,” she said.
“We’ve taken a pretty extensive look to determine what that probable cause was, and we have not been able to substantiate that,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that something didn’t happen. There’s no proof, there’s no proof that the cameras in pick up.”
The only information they’ve found is from the traffic stop itself, and David said the officers were “amped up” and “aggressive” from the beginning.
“Just the nature of the stop, very aggressive, loud communication,” she observed. “And it just rolls from there, it escalated from there.”
Nichols was able to run away, but the cops soon caught him again.
“At that point, there was a there was an amount of aggression that is unexplainable,” Davis said. “Even in the worst situations when there is resistance, officers still have the responsibility to exercise care and regard for any individual that’s in custody, or they’re attempting to apprehend.”
Officials are waiting until late in the day to release the video because a large and negative response is expected. Memphis area schools canceled all after-class activities and postponed a school event scheduled for Saturday morning, and the University of Memphis is also closing early, The AP reported.
“I don’t want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,” Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said Thursday. “If you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully.”
Davis said she was not surprised at the nature of the charges given the treatment of Nichols.
“I expected serious charges, I really did,” Davis said. “The charges that were placed or at least the administrative charges are probably the most severe that I’ve seen in my career, but they were absolutely appropriate.”