President Joe Biden urges protesters in Tennessee to be calm as authorities prepare to disclose video footage of an arrest that resulted in the death of a motorist.
Bodycam footage of the incident with Tyre Nichols, 29, will be released on Friday, according to his family’s attorneys. And it will prove that he was brutally beaten.
Five now-former police officers are charged with murder after Mr. Nichols died days after a 7 January traffic stop.
Memphis is reportedly on edge, and police have increased patrols across the city.
“I’m appalled by what I saw,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said Thursday after examining the video, calling the cops’ behavior “simply abhorrent.”
Police beating video release
A family attorney stated that Mr. Nichols, a black man, was stopped by five black police officers on his way home after photographing a nearby park’s sunset.
According to officials, he was accused of driving recklessly.
The initial altercation happened when Mr. Nichols attempted to flee on foot as officers approached his vehicle.
According to them, a second confrontation occurred when authorities attempted to arrest him.
Mr. Nichols later complained of shortness of breath and was sent to the hospital. Where he was listed in critical condition, according to authorities.
A lawyer for Mr. Nichols’ family stated that the bodycam evidence revealed that Mr. Nichols was pepper-sprayed, hit with a stun gun, restrained, and kicked.
He compared the incident to the infamous footage of Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King, a black motorist, more than three decades ago.
All five police face second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression charges.
Thursday saw the booking of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith. They had all joined the Memphis Police Department within the past six years but were all terminated last week.
“Lack of fundamental humanity”
On Thursday, President Biden called for calm as officials prepare to release the tape Friday night (local time).
He stated, “I join Tyre’s family in advocating for a peaceful protest.” “It is understandable to feel outraged, but violence is never justified.”
The city’s police chief, Cerelyn Davis, the first black woman to hold that position in Memphis, also urged calm, citing a “lack of basic humanity for another individual.”
The Nichols family and their legal team reviewed the arrest video earlier this week in private.
Regarding its contents, attorney Antonio Romanucci stated, “He was a human piata.” Three minutes of raw, unrepentant, nonstop thrashing of this young youngster.
During a news conference on Thursday, attorneys for two of the ex-officers said their clients will fight the charges.
A lawyer for one of the guys stated, “No one intended for Tyre Nichols to die that night.”
Officials stated that Mr. Nichols “died from his injuries” on January 10, but provided no other information. No official cause of death has been reported as of yet.
According to his family, he was a “nice child” who enjoyed photography and skateboarding.
Relatives report that the father of one, who worked for FedEx, suffered from Crohn’s illness and considerable weight loss.
Biden urges calm before police beating video release
Reverend Al Sharpton, a US civil rights leader, told that the cops’ race made the alleged crime extra traumatic.
He stated, “We pushed to integrate blacks into the police force.” The fact that they acted in such a terrible manner is beyond description.
“I do not believe that these five black police officers would have acted in this manner had the victim been a young white man,” he continued.
Trial attorney Adanté Pointer, who is based in California, stated that incidents of black men being slain by black police officers rarely reach the news.
He told, “This case demonstrates that it is not merely a white against the black issue, but rather that this is a power dynamic that plays out regardless of the race of the police officers.
The FBI and Department of Justice have launched a civil rights inquiry into the death of Mr. Nichols.
The involved officers are members of a special unit known as Scorpion, which is an abbreviation for “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods.”
The city’s police chief is reviewing all of the city’s specialty units, including the high-crime squad.
