“Mom!” Was the cry repeated by African-American Tire Nichols as Memphis police officers brutally beat him on January 7 after a traffic stop.
The 29-year-old man, who doesn’t seem to resist, died three days later from the beating.
This Friday, the Memphis Police Department released four videos that include footage from a security camera and the officers’ bodies. The recordings extend for more than an hour.
The first video shows an officer forcibly removing Nichols from his vehicle and yelling at him to get down.
“I did nothing,” the detainee is heard saying.
“Get down on the ground,” the agents order. One recommends applying electric shocks (Taser).
“Guys, you guys are doing too much right now,” Nichols says. “I’m just trying to get home,” she adds.
Within seconds, an officer tasers him, and the man jumps up and tries to run.
Other CCTV camera footage shows officers punching and kicking the suspect after catching up with him in a residential area. Additional footage shows two officers pinning Nichols to the ground as the rest take turns beating him. An extendable baton and pepper spray were also used for the attack.
You can also appreciate the moment when they drag him along the ground and place him against a patrol car.
It took more than 20 minutes before an ambulance arrived on the scene.
RowVaughn Wells, the victim’s mother, called her son a good boy who spent his Sundays at the laundry and getting ready for the week.
“Does that sound like someone the police say did all those bad things?” the woman was quoted as saying by WPBF.
Nichols is the youngest of four children and was the father of a boy. Before the pandemic started, the man moved to Memphis. When he wasn’t working a second shift at FedEx, he enjoyed photography and skateboarding.
Officers initially stopped Nichols at about 8:30 p.m. on suspicion of reckless driving.
A confrontation ensued between the parties and Nichols fled the scene on foot, according to the Memphis police version. Officers detained him and another altercation ensued, leading to the man’s arrest.
Several details are unclear at this time, including what exactly seemed reckless to officers, how far Nichols fled on foot and who was involved in the first encounter with police.
All five black officers have been fired and face various charges including second-degree murder. Apart from the criminal case, the Department of Justice opened an investigation for violation of civil rights in the case of the death of the African-American.
Outrage and protests in various US cities.
Videos of the beating sparked protests in several US cities this Friday.
In Memphis, hundreds of people blocked traffic on a city highway last night.
The protesters asked to speak with the city’s mayor, Jim Strickland, and the chief of the Police Department, Cerelyn Davis.
Dozens also came out to protest in New York, Atlanta, Washington DC and Detroit. In New York, more than 100 people demonstrated in Times Square, in the center of Manhattan.
The city’s mayor, Eric Adams, called on citizens Friday to protest peacefully, calling the beating “outrageous.”
With information from Efe.
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