Video of Tyre Nichols' arrest shows Memphis, Tenn., police violently beating the Black man
CBC
WARNING: This story contains descriptions of a man being beaten and video of graphic violence and language.
Memphis authorities released more than an hour of footage Friday of the violent beating of Tyre Nichols in which officers held the Black motorist down and struck him repeatedly as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, "I just want to go home."
The video is filled with violent moments showing the officers, who are also Black, chasing and pummelling Nichols, and leaving him on the pavement propped against a squad car as they fist-bumped and celebrated their actions.
The footage emerged one day after the officers were charged with murder in Nichols' death. The chilling images of another Black man dying at the hands of police renewed tough questions about how fatal encounters with law enforcement continue even after repeated calls for change.
The recordings show police savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes. Nichols died three days after his Jan. 7 arrest. The Nichols family legal team has likened the assault to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
After the first officer roughly pulls Nichols out of his car, the motorist can be heard saying, "I didn't do anything," as a group of officers begin to wrestle him to the ground.
One officer is heard yelling, "Tase him! Tase him!"
Nichols calmly says, "OK, I'm on the ground."
"You guys are really doing a lot right now," Nichols says. "I'm just trying to go home."
"Stop, I'm not doing anything," he yells moments later.
Nichols can then be seen running as an officer fires a Taser at him. The officers then start chasing Nichols.
Other officers are called and a search ensues before Nichols is caught at another intersection. The officers beat him with a baton and kick and punch him.
Security camera footage shows three officers surrounding Nichols as he lies in the street, cornered between police cars, with a fourth officer nearby.
Two officers hold Nichols to the ground as he moves about, and then the third appears to kick him in the head. Nichols slumps more fully onto the pavement with all three officers surrounding him. The same officer kicks him again.
