Tyre Nichols, a 29 year old Black man, was stopped by Memphis police officers for reckless driving. It resulted in an altercation after which Nichols was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. He died three days later. The victim complained of shortness of breath before being taken to the nearest hospital.
After seeing the bodycam video, the family of Tyre Nichols, a young man who died after a three-minute beating, spoke for the first time about his death. The beating occurred on January 7, 2022, and is still under investigation.
However, officials of the Memphis Police Department released little information about the incident, which led the victim’s family, lawyers, and even activists to dig deeper into the beating. Antonio Romanucci, one of the family’s lawyers, said that Nichols was pepper sprayed, shocked with a stun gun, and even restrained in the video. The Memphis police are waiting for instruction on when to release the video to the public. Steve Mulroy, the Shelby County District Attorney, said that the video’s release would be delayed until later this week or next, as investigators don’t want to compromise their investigation. However, people are requesting to make the video public immediately, as it is vital in all cases where police are involved in deaths.
In the video, the police officers who stopped Nichols were also black. In their statement, the confrontation happened because Nichols attempted to flee. There was a second altercation when they proceeded to arrest him. Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney for the family, said Nichols asked the police officers what his violation was. Crump insisted that no one should be killed in a simple traffic stop. Romanucci added that the victim was defenseless when beaten by the police. The police involved in the stop were using unmarked cars, and the conduct of random traffic stops was questionable.
The five officers identified in the arrest were Justin Smith , Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Tadarrius Bean. State and federal prosecutors are still determining whether criminal charges should be filed against the officers who were fired. The victim’s family would like to see the officers involved charged to the highest extent of the law.