[ad_1]
Memphis police will release the full video and audio showing the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols in the coming weeks following public backlash.
Jennifer Sink, the City of Memphis chief legal officer, announced Tuesday that the full body camera footage and audio showing the moment police rained at least nine blows down on the unarmed FedEx worker while screaming profanities.
The police department released redacted clips of the January 7 assault last week, but Sink said the city has received ‘multiple requests’ to release the entirety of the audio and video footage in the case.
She said the city is now willing to release all of the footage, but it will take several weeks before it is released as the city continues to investigate the incident.
The announcement came just hours before Nichols’ family buries the 29-year-old father-of-one.
Tyre Nichols is pictured in hospital following the brutal beating on January 7. The 29-year-old from Memphis died on January 10 from cardiac arrest and kidney failure, three days after he was pulled over for reckless driving by police in unmarked cars
He was seen in body camera footage being pinned to the ground by multiple officers following a foot chase. Nichols was then pepper sprayed in the face, and kicked and punched
In a statement on Tuesday, Sink said the city is ‘still conducting an administrative investigation of other personnel, and the criminal investigation is ongoing.
‘It is imperative the City conduct a thorough investigation so that all culpable parties can be held accountable,’ she said.
‘A premature release of the video and audio could compromise our administrative investigation.’
But she said the city ‘is preparing’ to release the recordings publicly once the administrative investigation concludes, which she expects ‘to occur in the next few weeks.’
In the meantime, Sink said, Nichols’ family and their attorneys have already ‘been afforded an opportunity to view the entirety of the audio and video footage privately until it can be released publicly.’
The announcement came as Tyre Nichols’ family prepares to bury the 29-year-old in a funeral that is expected to draw thousands to the Tennessee city.
Thousands are expected to attend the funeral of Tyre Nichols on Wednesday
RowVaughn Wells, mother of Tyre Nichols, a young Black man who was killed during a traffic stop by Memphis police officers, reacts during a news conference at Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church in Memphis, Tennessee
The Memphis Police Department has received multiple requests to release the full video
Among those expected to be in attendance are several of George Floyd’s relatives, and four White House aides including Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement Keisha Lance Bottoms, Tara Murray, senior advisor Mitch Landrieu, and Erica Loewe, the director of African American media.
Vice President Kamala Harris is also expected to fly down for the ceremony.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy, as he did for the funeral service of George Floyd.
Speaking to MSNBC ahead of the ceremony, Sharpton said he plans to address police brutality in the city where civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr died.
He said the ‘only comfort’ that he can afford Nichols’ family ‘is that we will stand with them and fight in the name of Tyre and others to try and change the legal and legislative structure that deals with policing in this country.’
He also noted that he and Nichols’ family are ‘united in passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,’ saying he has been ‘talking with my colleagues and civil rights leadership as well as members of the Senate to really try and push police reform in light of this.
‘To go to Memphis and think Martin Luther King died here on a cold balcony in April 1968, and we’re here now where five black cops beat an unarmed man to death and there’s no federal legislation that addresses this shows the shame that we have of what has happened to Tyre Nichols,’ Sharpton told Morning Joe hosts.
‘To think that Dr. King died to put blacks on the police force and they’re acting in as brutal a force as any racist police is why we’re here today, and I’m going to address that directly in the eulogy,’ he said.
Sharpton added that he thinks ‘it’s a bit fitting the first black woman vice president will be there because this building where Dr. King died will show how far we came from.
‘As Joe [Biden] was in Europe last week to show the human carnage, how low we can be, now we have to rise up together to fight this. We can’t just accept it.’
Rev. Al Sharpton said Wednesday morning he plans to address police brutality in his eulogy
Footage of the January 7 beating released last week showed Nichols crying out for his mother as he is pinned to the ground by multiple officers, pepper sprayed in the face, kicked and punched in the head, while struck with a metal baton.
Police hit him at least nine times during the nearly five minute altercation, just 80 yards from his home, as they continued to scream profanities at him.
Then, even after paramedics arrived, Nichols had to wait for nearly half an hour slumped over the pavement for any significant medical treatment.
Eventually, he was transported to a local hospital, where he would succumb to his injuries three days later.
The violent incident began with officers dragging Nichols from the driver’s seat of his car as he yells out, ‘D**n, I didn’t do anything … I am just trying to go home’
After fleeing towards his mother’s house and being tasered by one of the cops, Nichols is tackled and held down by two officers, who repeatedly shout ‘give me your hands!’
Moments later, third cop arrives on foot and sprays pepper spray at Nichols, also hitting himself in the face with the chemical irritant
The shadow of the officer wearing this bodycam is seen as he raises his arm holding a metal telescopic baton, after saying ‘I’m gonna baton the f*** out of him!’
Nichos is seen sitting propped against a car following the beating on January 7
The terrifying encounter began with a traffic stop, when multiple unmarked cop cars surrounded Nichols’ vehicle and officers dragged him from the driver’s seat as one could be heard yelling, ‘Get the f*** out of the f****** car.’
‘D**n, I didn’t do anything … I am just trying to go home,’ responds Nichols.
‘On the ground, on the ground,’ an officer says as cops force Nichols to the ground, order him to lay on his stomach and squirt him in the face with pepper spray.
‘Alright, I’m on the ground,’ Nichols can be heard saying, with a cop responding profanely: ‘B***h, put your hands behind your back before I …. I’m going to knock your ass the f*** out.’
‘Get on the f****** ground. I’m going to Tase you,’ one cop says.
‘You guys are really doing a lot right now. I’m just trying to go home,’ says Nichols.
Several cops then began kicking Nichols as he lies on the ground. Nichols broke free, scrambles to his feet and sprinted away down a road with officers chasing him on foot.
One officer then fires a taser at Nichols, but later remarks that only one prong struck him, meaning the circuit was not completed and the electric shock was not delivered.
After running for roughly half a mile, Nichols is seen being tackled and held down by two other officers involved in the pursuit, who repeatedly shout ‘give me your hands!’
Other cops are seen arriving on foot as Nichols is being pinned down. One sprays pepper spray at Nichols, also hitting himself in the face.
Two officers held Nichols to the ground as he moves about, then the third appears to kick him in the head.
He slumped more fully onto the pavement with all three officers surrounding him. The same officer then kicks him again.
The officer who used the pepper spray then extends a telescoping metal baton, shouting, ‘I’m gonna baton the f*** out of him!’ before striking Nichols three times in the back.
Several officers are later seen propping Nichols up on his feet as one and punches his face. Nichols stumbles and turns, still held up by two officers.
The officer who punched him then walked around to Nichols’ front and punches him three more times. Then Nichols collapsed.
Nichols is heard repeatedly screaming, ‘Mom! Mom!’ during the struggle, but goes silent after blows to his face.
After Nichols is handcuffed, he appeared to be unresponsive and unable to sit upright.
As the minutes tick by, cops are heard cursing, wisecracking and ordering him to sit up as he slumps over onto the pavement.
Even after paramedics arrive on the scene, they do not appear to render immediate aid.
In total, Nichols lied on the pavement for more than 19 minutes as at least eight cops mill around the scene, flushing pepper spray out of their own eyes.
Nearly half an hour after the assault, an ambulance finally pulled up and a stretcher was unloaded to transport Nichols to the hospital.
Charged with second degree murder are (top, left to right) Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, and (bottom, left to right) Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith
Preston Hemphill has been suspended with pay pending a hearing, but was spared criminal charges
In the aftermath, Memphis authorities announced that five black officers were relieved from duty.
Justin Smith, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean were later charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression in the fatal beating of Nichols.
Preston Hemphill was also suspended with pay pending a hearing, but has so far been spared the criminal charges filed against his five police colleagues.
Hemphill, 26, who joined the force in 2018, wore the body-camera that captured the first of four videos released by authorities on Friday of the traffic stop and violent confrontation that followed.
In the video, Hemphill is seen ‘violently pulling Nichols from his car while hitting him on the ground with a taser, later saying, “I hope they stomp his a**” after Nichols ran away’, the family’s lawyers said.
A seventh officer who was not immediately identified has also been relieved of duty without pay, the police department said.
Police Chief Cerelyn Davis has said an unspecified number of officers besides the five initially implicated remained under investigation for policy infractions stemming from the arrest of Nichols.
[ad_2]
Source link
