The Memphis Police Department has released chilling bodycam footage of five police officers fatally beating, pepper spraying, and Tasering black motorist Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop for allegedly reckless driving earlier this month. The footage has since gone viral and has sparked massive anger among people, with protests erupting across the United States.
In the harrowing video released on Friday night, Nichols, 29, can be heard screaming out for his mother numerous times during the savage assault on January 7 that happened only a few blocks from his home. He can be seen crying for help but officers continue to Taser and beat him during the traffic stop.
Spine-Chilling Moment
In the video, Nichols, who had no prior police records, maintains that he "didn't do anything," but as the five black policemen try to arrest him, they are unsuccessful in handcuffing him, and he manages to escape, which results in a second incident in which they beat and Taser him.
During the second altercation, Nichols can be heard screaming, "Mom! Mom!", which happened within 100 yards from his home, as multiple police officers pin him to the ground, pepper spray in the face, kick and punch him in the head, and strike with a metal baton.
Nichols says "alright" and looks to give up as they continue to beat him while pinning him down and handcuffing him. He is wailing in pain the entire time.
The video of the altercation begins with officers pulling over 29-year-old Nichols while pointing their firearms at him. He is dragged from his vehicle, and they ask him to get down.
"Alright, alright. alright," Nichols says repeatedly, as he follows the orders of the officers and gets down on the ground.
"I'll break your s–t, try to f–k around," another officer yells at him.
"You guys are really doing a lot right now. I'm just trying to go home," Nichols says.
Nichols then frees himself from the officer's grip, flees down the street as they spray him with pepper spray, and use a taser on him, the video shows.
The officers then chase Nichols, while one of them can be seen on bodycam sprinting to the scene and lunging at him, who then falls to the ground.
Three officers are seen struggling with him in the struggle on surveillance video from a traffic light. One of the cops approaches him at one point, winds him up, and kicks him. As officers help Nichols to his feet, a fourth officer comes on the scene and appears to strike him about the body with a baton.
He then takes multiple blows to the head, some coming from behind before falling to his knees and then back to the ground. Nichols is seen lying on the ground when two more officers come, and one of them kicks him. As Nichols is writhing in pain on the sidewalk, the police eventually leave his back.
"Mom!" he screams out desperately as they continue to shout commands at him and try to get him in handcuffs.
Give us your hands! the cop yells as he appears to hit Nichols several times and threatens to "baton the f-k out of" him.
Brutally Murdered
The disturbing video then shows Nichols writhing in pain on the sidewalk, when the police finally get off him. The police pulled Nichols up against the side of a police cruiser where he can be seen slumped down and covered in blood when officers shine their flashlights on Nichols' face.
Nichols keels over on his side at one point. Despite numerous officers standing over him and putting lights on him, it doesn't appear like any of them are providing any urgent medical help. Nichols lies handcuffed on the ground for several minutes without help, occasionally still twisting in pain.
Approximately 20 minutes after Nichols was placed in handcuffs, EMS shows up and starts tending to his wounds. He is then carted away in a trolley to the hospital, where he would die three days later.
The disturbing video was made public just days after being privately shown to Nichols' family and their legal team. The family and legal team compared the man's beating to the one Rodney King had at the hands of Los Angeles police officers in 1991.
On January 7, Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx employee and a young father, was stopped for allegedly driving recklessly while returning home from photographing the setting sun in a suburban park.
The day following the encounter, police released a statement in which they claimed that Nichols fled as they approached the car and that "a confrontation occurred"; as they caught up to him, they said that "another confrontation occurred" while they were arresting him.
Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, was given the video before it was publicly released. She claimed she was unable to watch the entire thing, but several others close to her were able to and described it for her.
"All I heard my son say was, 'What did I do?' I just lost it from there,'' she told CNN.
She recalled how in the video her son "cried out for me'' while he was "beat like a piñata."
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said on Friday that the footage is the worst she has seen in her career. "We are going to see acts that defy humanity, a disregard for life, duty of care and a level of physical interaction that is above and beyond what is required in law enforcement," she said Friday morning.
There is 'no proof,' according to the police chief, that Tyre was operating carelessly when he was stopped.
"It is about human dignity, integrity, accountability and the duty to protect. As this video will show – it doesn't matter whose wearing the uniform," David said.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith, five black cops, were charged with Nichols' murder and turned themselves into authorities on Thursday. In addition to second-degree murder, they are accused of aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression.
They were sacked from the department last Friday after an internal inquiry determined that they overused force and disregarded their obligations to step in and provide assistance.
However, each of them was released from the Shelby County Jail early on Friday after posting bonds ranging from $250,000 to $350,000.
The official reason behind Nichols' death has still not been revealed, nearly three weeks after his arrest and death despite claims from relatives that the police caused his heart attack and kidney failure.
News of the release of the body cam footage prompted worries about potential outbreaks of violence in Memphis and other cities, as law enforcement authorities prepared for protests and civil unrest.
Although Memphis' chief cop emphasized that it was not an excuse "for inciting violence or destruction," she said she expected citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to demonstrate and demand action.
