Footage of a traffic stop that has seen five ex-Memphis police officers charged with murder shows them kicking and punching a vehicle driver for numerous minutes as he weeps out for his mother.Officers are seen beating Tyre Nichols, 29, in the videos from the 7 January arrest, without any indications of him resisting.US President Joe Biden stated he was deeply pained by the horrific clip.Lawyers for Mr Nichols household likened the attack to the 1991 police pounding of Los Angeles driver Rodney King.Peaceful protests took place in Memphis on Friday night after the video was released, with some demonstrators blocking a significant highway in the city, while small-scale presentations were held somewhere else in the country.Many protesters held banners demanding justice for Mr Nichols and an end to cops fear .(This article includes descriptions of violence that some individuals might discover upsetting.)Authorities initially said Mr Nichols had been stopped on suspicion of careless driving, which has not been validated.
He died in healthcare facility 3 days later on, on 10 January.Mr Nichols was black, as are all 5 officers charged in the case.Memphis Police Department launched 4 graphic videos of the traffic stop and its violent consequences on Friday, amounting to more than an hour of footage.The first clip shows officers pulling Mr Nichols out of his vehicle and yelling at him to get on the ground.
I didnt do anything! he states.
Officers demand that he lie down flat.
Get on the [expletive] ground! one officer shouts, as another is heard stating: Tase him! An officer yells: Put your hands behind your back before I break your [curse] You people are really doing a lot today, Mr Nichols states to the officers.
Im simply attempting to go home.
Within seconds one of the officers fires a Taser at Mr Nichols, who leaps up and handles to run away.A separate video, from a CCTV video camera installed on an utility pole, shows officers beating Mr Nichols after catching up with him in a domestic area.Two officers are seen holding Mr Nichols down while others take turns kicking and punching him and striking him with an expandable baton.They drag him throughout the ground and prop him staying up against a squad car.
More than 20 minutes elapse up until an ambulance is seen arriving.The 3rd and 4th videos show police body electronic camera video of the beating, with Mr Nichols being held down, pepper-sprayed and attacked as he repeatedly yells: Mom! The videos likewise reveal officers crushing about recounting information of the incident as Mr Nichols lies plunged against the car.Some of them claim Mr Nichols swung at them or reached for their weapons, though neither claims is clear from the released video.Officers can also be heard stating that absolutely nothing was discovered in his car.Mr Nichols mother, RowVaughn Wells, has said her boy was only about 230ft (70m) from house when Memphis policemans murdered him .
Agents of the family have explained Mr Nichols as the dad of a four-year-old son and a keen skateboarder who had just recently enrolled in a photography class.
He worked for the FedEx parcel delivery firm.One of the legal representatives, Antonio Romanucci, said: This young man, by definition of the law in this state, was terrorised.
The video is appalling , Greg Donaldson, a teacher at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, informed the BBC.He stated the lack of training stands apart, with the police officers anger appearing to grow as their incompetence appears to be more exposed .
The worse part of it was the inhumanity after the occurrence, he added, as officers leave Mr Nichols laying there on the ground like a piece of trash.
The five officers - Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith - were fired last week.They were nabbed on Thursday and each deals with charges of second-degree murder, worsened attack, exacerbated kidnapping, official misconduct and main oppression.Four of the 5 posted bail and were released from custody by Friday early morning, according to prison records.Lawyers for Mr Martin and Mr Mills have stated their customers will plead not guilty.Memphis Police Director Cerelyn Davis described the five officers actions as abhorrent, reckless and inhumane .
With protests anticipated, she told US media that local officials had decided to release the video on Friday evening so that schoolchildren and commuters would have time to get home.Reverend Al Sharpton, who will provide the eulogy for Mr Nichols on Wednesday, asked protesters to stay non-violent , saying unrest would only assist the defendants.In a tweet the civil rights leader said the sad reality was authorities cruelty would be an ever-present danger for Black and Brown Americans unless polices constantly see that those who use blunt force will go to prison .
The demonstrations around the country have so far been mostly peaceful, which Mr Nichols household had actually called for, saying they didnt desire any type of disturbance .
One protester at the Memphis rally, 21-year-old Kyrion, informed the BBC he had dreamed as a kid of joining the citys police, and now that dream was shattered.
Its simply wicked, the system is permanently going to be wicked, he stated.
Which is why Im out here today, since right now I cant count on [police] to secure me.
How do I know the guy is not going to put his knee into my neck, or hold me down and beat me into a pulp? After the videos were launched, Shelby County Sheriffs Office stated two of its deputies had also been spared responsibility pending an investigation into their conduct.Source: BBC-Agencies