caileak.com – Tire Nichols called out to his mother when he was beaten by officers who are now being charged with his death.
Taya Nichols screamed for her mother and was repeatedly punched by Memphis police — including in the face while her hands were being held — near the end of this month’s fatal police shooting of a black man, according to the city’s video. released.
Although paramedics arrived minutes after the officers stopped, Nichols appeared to have been left helpless on the side of the road for some time before an ambulance arrived. On Friday evening, the city released body camera and surveillance video of the Jan. traffic stop. 7 and hit that left the 29-year-old man dead in hospital from his three injuries. The release comes a day after five Memphis police officers, who are also black, were fired and charged with murder. The footage received a surprising response from law enforcement experts and outrage from leaders including President Joe Biden, who said it was “another painful reminder of the deep fear and chaos, pain and fatigue that black and brown Americans experience every day.”
Protesters in Memphis took to Interstate 55 on Friday night after the videos emerged, blocking a pair of bridges connecting the West Tennessee city to Arkansas.
The background to Nichols’ encounter is as follows: Police arrested Nichols in Memphis on what they initially say was suspicion of reckless driving. When police chased him from his car, a fight broke out and he fled; Within minutes, officers grabbed him and punched or kicked him repeatedly, according to video footage.
Moments from these videos include:
The initial encounter
During the first encounter after the traffic stop, at about 8:24 p.m., Nichols appeared calm, body camera video from the officer who arrived at the scene shows.
As the officer approached the scene, one officer yelled at Nichols to “Fuck the car”.
Officers pulled Nichols from the vehicle, and someone could be heard saying, “Get on the ground and turn his ass.” Nichols responded by saying, “I haven’t done anything” and “Okay, I’m going down.”
The police beat him to the ground and threatened to beat him. A police officer told her, “Bitch, put your hands behind your back before I break them.”
Nichols can be heard telling them, “Guys are doing a lot right now. … I was just trying to get home.
At this point, Nichols appears to be lying on his side, with the police crouching next to him. When the officer told him to lie down, Nichols replied, “I’m on the floor!” The officer yells that he wants to lie on his stomach, a position Nichols doesn’t seem to be getting.
At 8:25 p.m., an officer sprayed Nichols in the face with pepper spray. Nichols then got to his feet and began shooting at the officer as he was fired upon by someone who apparently had not made contact.
Nichols continues to run and the police chase him. An officer with a body camera returns to the first scene, where at least one officer says he can’t see anything. An officer with a body camera saw a water bottle being poured into the eyes of at least one officer.
When Nichols is caught again, screams are heard
Other body camera videos show what happens when police arrest Nichols minutes later on a nearby street around 8:34 p.m.
In the video, Nichols shows police officers arriving at the scene and yelling for Mom.
The officer tells Nichols to “reach out to them” and a fight breaks out on the scene. One of the officers asks Nichols, “Do you want to spray again?”
Two police officers punched and kicked Nichols while he was on the floor.
Nichols exclaims “Mmm!” She continues to call her mother for a while. Finally, an officer is heard yelling at Nichols, “I’m going to kill you.” “Give me your damn hands.”
Struck multiple times without visible provocation
The pole-mounted, remote-controlled police surveillance video in the neighborhood shows the clearest footage of the brawl. This suggests that the officers struck Nichols at least nine times without provocation. When the camera pans to the scene for the first time, an officer slams Nichols down on the sidewalk with a knee or a leg. Nichols is pulled by the shoulders and then punched twice in the face. After being placed in a sitting position, Nicholls was clubbed in the back. After being brought to his knees, Nichols was shot again. Once pulled to his feet, the video shows the officers punching Nicole several times in the face, holding Nicole’s hands behind her body, after which she falls to her knees. Less than a minute later, a cop appears to be kicking Nichols. More than three minutes after the encounter first appeared on camera, police released Nichols, who rolled onto his back.
A minute later, Nichols is dragged across the sidewalk and left sitting next to a car, where he is largely ignored by officers for the next three-and-a-half minutes. In the Bodycam video, the officers can be heard talking about the confrontation.
“He was swinging – poop – almost hit me,” says one officer. “Then he took the gun (inaudible).” said the sergeant.
An officer said that Nichols had “put his hand on my gun” and that “the bad guy was holding the gun.”
An officer later describes a traffic jam involving Nichols: “We tried to stop him. Did not stop.
A policeman says, “He was driving, turned around, almost hit my car.”
Van Jones, a former special advisor to President Barack Obama, put it this way to CNN after watching the video: “(Nicholas) goes from calm of voice (in the first meeting) to nervousness to … pain.”
“This is clearly excessive force,” former New York City Police Lieutenant Darren Borker told CNN. “What is most disturbing is that no officer was willing to step in and say ‘stop’.”
Repeatedly left on the pavement
Ten minutes into the pole camera video — minutes after the officers disembarked — a man who appears to be a paramedic first hires Nichols at about 8:41 p.m., but the rescuer repeatedly pulls away from Nichols before any an ambulance arrives.
Sheriff places 2 deputies on leave after seeing videos
Two deputies from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office were placed on temporary leave of absence to investigate after the sheriff watched the video Friday.
Floyd Bonner Jr. “I am concerned about the two deputies who arrived on the scene after a physical altercation between the police and Tyra Nichols,” the sheriff said. I have launched an internal investigation into the actions of these legislators to determine what happened and whether they violated our policy.
Fire department spokeswoman Quansha Ward told CNN that two firefighters who were previously part of Nichols’ “primary patient care” have been placed on leave pending an internal investigation.
Five fired officers scheduled for February arraignment
The five identified Memphis officers (Tadarius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmett Martin and Desmond Mills Jr.) were fired Jan. 20 for violating police policy, including using excessive force, police said.
Then it was charged this week. The Shelby County, Mulroy District Attorney said he was charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and one count of official coercion.
Martin and Haley were released from prison on $350,000 bail, and Smith, Bean and Mills Jr. were released on $250,000 bail each, according to Shelby County prison records. Five former police officers are due to be indicted on February 17.
Mills Jr.’s lawyer, Blake Ballin, said the video “raised as many questions as it answered”. Balin said Mills arrived later than the other officers and his vision was blurred by the use of pepper spray.
“Some of the remaining questions will have to focus on the individual actions of Desmond Mills – what Desmond knew and what he could see when he arrived too late. What do you know about what he saw after the pepper spray…and whether Desmond’s actions crossed a line other officers had crossed during the incident.
‘Acts that defy humanity,’ police chief says
Earlier Friday, the Memphis police chief said the video “shows acts that defy humanity.”
Prior to the release of the videos, Chief Cerlin “CJ” Davis told CNN’s Don Lemon that police were unable to find anything to determine the probable cause of Nichols’ reckless driving before the fatal collision.
“It’s still like a nightmare,” Nichols’ mother Rowan Wells told CNN on Friday before the videos were released.
“I’m still trying to make sense of it all and trying to make sense of it all,” Wells said. “I don’t have my child. I will never have my child again.”
Police officials in a number of major cities across the country said they were watching this weekend in anticipation of possible public outcry over what appears in the video. Before the video was released, Wells urged supporters to remain peaceful at the protests, saying at a vigil in Memphis on Thursday that he wanted “every one of you to protest peacefully.”
“I don’t want to burn down our cities, trash our roads, because my son couldn’t take it,” Wells said. “And if you’re there for me and Thayer, you’re going to protest peacefully.”
