Video released in deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols
Tyre Nichols’ family members and their lawyers, who saw the footage before it was publicly released, said it shows officers “savagely beating” the skateboarder and FedEx worker for three minutes in an assault that the legal team likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.viral video on twitter
Release of video of Tyre Nichols’ beating
MEMPHIS, Tenn— Editor’s note: The police video is extremely graphic. Viewer discretion is advised.
The City of Memphis has publicly released video showing five Memphis police officers beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols.
tyre nichols death video 29 year old
He died three days later,The beating prompted murder charges against the five officers and outrage at the latest instance of police brutality in the U.S.
Memphis will release Tyre Nichols video after 6 p.m. on a Friday. Why?Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Susan Adler Thorp’s name.
At some point tonight, the city of Memphis is expected to release video of the confrontation that led to Tyre Nichols’ death.
On Jan. 7, a traffic stop led to an altercation between Nichols and five former Memphis Police Department officers, which landed Nichols in the hospital.
The 29-year-old died at a local hospital three days later. Those five former officers have since been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault-acting in concert, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
At a press conference Thursday announcing those charges, Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy said the city of Memphis ― the custodian of video evidence of the confrontation between Nichols and MPD ― would release the video sometime after 6 p.m. Friday.
tyre nichols death video memphis police
Memphis police:Tyre Nichols’ death spurs internal investigation, review of specialized units, says Memphis police chiefTyre Nichols case:As video’s release nears, here’s what to expect in Memphis today
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said he had seen no correlation in other communities about the date and time videos like this were released and how communities reacted.
That was a law enforcement preference on trying to get people home from school and home from work, and do it after rush hour when people were safely at home.
Because we’ve been getting calls from school leaders and business leaders saying, ‘When you release it…
we’re worried about our students or workers,'” he said.Susan Adler Thorp, a seasoned public relations and politics expert in Memphis, said releasing the video after 6 p.m. on a Friday made sense to her. It gives people working traditional business hours the chance to get home, should there be public demonstrations.
“They are ready to release the video and after 6 o’clock… this brings the week and the business day to a close. People have time to leave their businesses, workers have time to go home,” she said.
Thorp was not in the room at the time decisions about when and how to release the video were made.
She said Memphis officials will have seen what has happened in other American cities in similar situations and put a lot of thought into how to meet public demands for transparency without jeopardizing the prosecution’s future case against the five officers.
They also have to consider public safety and potential demonstrations or protests that occur following members of the public viewing the video.I’m not really certain that any time is the right time to release a video like this,” she said.
The leadership of this city has been very careful and almost calculating to a point how to manage the outcome or how to manage what has happened based on what they all have already seen in the video.
This week, the family has called for any reaction to the footage to remain peaceful and advised people not to let children see the video.
Numerous law enforcement and public officials have called the video heinous and disturbing.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said it was “absolutely appalling.”
