What do we know about Tyre Nichols’s death?

Nichols was stopped around 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 for alleged reckless driving in Memphis. “A confrontation occurred, and the suspect fled the scene on foot,” the police report said . Police pursued the suspect, and “another confrontation occurred” while they tried to take him into custody, the report added, and Nichols was admitted to a hospital in “critical condition” after complaining of “shortness of breath.” The police detainment at one point became unlawful, Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy said Thursday, when explaining why the five former police officers had been charged with kidnapping. According to his family, Nichols suffered a broken neck and went into cardiac arrest during the confrontation with police. The family released a photo of Nichols in a hospital bed, eyes swollen shut from bruising. Family members said Nichols died in the hospital of kidney failure and cardiac arrest on Jan. 10, three days after his encounter with the officers.

What does the video of the Tyre Nichols traffic stop show?

The video has not yet been officially released but is expected to be publicly shared Friday evening. It is surveillance and body-camera footage showing five Memphis police officers, who are also Black, interacting with Nichols during his arrest. Family members and law enforcement officials who have privately reviewed the footage have described it as harrowing, showing him being kicked, punched and Tasered less than 100 yards from his home, and capturing the beating from the vantage point of multiple cameras. Nichols was violently beaten for three minutes by police officers and treated like “a human piñata,” lawyers for his family said. “What I saw on the video today was horrific,” said Nichols’s stepfather, Rodney Wells. “No father or mother should see what we had to see.” “I’m sickened by what I saw,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David B. Rausch told reporters Thursday, calling the officers’ actions “absolutely appalling.” Meanwhile, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis described the circumstances surrounding Nichols’s death as “horrific” and has said she expects people to feel “outrage” when they view the footage. Davis spoke with Nichols’s family before a private viewing of the body-camera footage, warning them, “I’m not proud of what you’re about to see,” according to Wells. Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, said the body-camera footage reminded him of the Los Angeles Police Department beating of Rodney King more than three decades ago — an attack that was also captured on video and that sparked widespread protests and sought to change the national conversation about police reform. The last words heard on the video were Nichols calling for his mother three times, Crump added.

Who are the five Memphis police officers charged with murder?

The five suspects, who are all Black, have been named as Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean. They were all fired from the Memphis police last week after being found to have violated department policies pertaining to use of force, duty to render aid and duty to intervene, the department said in a news release. They were indicted on Thursday on charges of second-degree murder, “aggravated assault — acting in concert,” two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and one count of official oppression. “While each of the five individuals played a different role in the incident in question, the actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tyre Nichols, and they are all responsible,” Mulroy said Thursday. All five men joined the force within the past six years and are between 24 and 32 years old. At least two of the officers — Martin and Mills — played college football; according to their booking information on the jail website, all weighed over 200 pounds. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a longtime civil rights leader who will attend Nichols’s funeral next week, said the race of the five officers added to the tragedy. “These officers should not be allowed to hide their deeds behind their Blackness. We are against all police brutality,” he said. Two fire department employees involved in Nichols’s care also have been relieved of their duties as an investigation takes place, a spokeswoman said Tuesday . They have not been identified, and it is not clear whether they will return to work.

On Thursday, Crump and co-counsel Antonio Romanucci said the indictments of Haley, Mills, Martin, Smith and Bean “gives us hope as we continue to push for justice for Tyre.” In addition to the investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and the Justice Department are also launching a civil rights investigation. National protests are expected after the footage is released on Friday, with both Nichols’s family and law enforcement officials urging people to protest peacefully. In a statement Thursday following the announcement of charges, President Biden noted that “fatal encounters with law enforcement have disparately impacted Black and Brown people,” and called for Congress to advance the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a police accountability bill that stalled in the Senate in 2021.

Here’s what we know about Tyre Nichols and the Memphis police video

Q: Who was Tyre Nichols?

Nichols, 29, was a passionate skateboarder and amateur photographer, according to family members . He had a 4-year-old son. Nichols worked at FedEx alongside his stepfather, and together they would often return for a home-cooked dinner made by Nichols’s mother during their break, the family’s lawyers said. “He didn’t have a negative bone in his body, like at all,” his brother Jamal Dupree said. “Energetic, outgoing, funny, goofy, always had a smile on his face.” Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, described her son as a “gentle soul” who “loved to skateboard. He loved to take pictures. He liked to go see the sunset. And most of all, he loved his mother, and he loved his son.” She recalled that he had tattooed her name on his arm. “And that made me proud ’cause most kids don’t put their mom’s name.” Wells said her son suffered from Crohn’s disease and weighed no more than 145 pounds. “Nobody’s perfect, but he was damn near. My son loved me to death,” she said. “My son didn’t do no drugs. He didn’t kill no one. He didn’t like confrontation.”

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January 27, 2023 at 10:38 a.m. EST

The parents of Tyre Nichols, RowVaughn Wells, and his stepfather, Rodney Wells, spoke in Memphis on Jan. 27 ahead of police body-cam footage being released. (Video: AP)

Officials are set to release video of the traffic stop and police interaction with Tyre Nichols on Friday evening. The 29-year-old Black motorist was brutally beaten and died after being pulled over by police during a traffic stop earlier this month.

Five former Memphis police officers have been charged with second-degree murder and other charges including aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping.

Protests are expected after the video footage is publicly released, and local officials have expressed fears they could turn into wider unrest.

The death of Tyre Nichols

The latest: The Justice Department is launching a review of the Memphis Police Department’s use of force policies and practices. Each of the five former Memphis police officers pleaded not guilty in Tyre Nichols’ death. One of the officers texted a photo of bloodied Tyre to colleagues, according to records.

What has Memphis police footage revealed?: The race of the five officers charged in the Nichols killing has sparked a complex dialogue on institutional racism in policing. Some of the most haunting videos came from SkyCop cameras.

Who was Tyre Nichols?: The 29-year-old father was pepper-sprayed, punched and kicked by Memphis cops after a January traffic stop. He was pronounced dead at a hospital three days after his arrest. At Tyre Nichols’ funeral service, his family said they are focused on getting justice.

What is the Scorpion unit?: After the fallout from the brutal beating, Memphis police shut down the Scorpion unit.

The death of Tyre Nichols

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