WATCH | Disturbing footage of US police beating Tyre Nichols released

30 January 2023 - 11:23 By REUTERS
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The city of Memphis released graphic video footage on Friday of the violent encounter between Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, and the five police officers charged with murder in his beating death after a traffic stop earlier this month.

One video clip shows officers dragging Nichols from the driver's seat of his car as he yells, “Damn, I didn't do anything ... I am just trying to go home,” and force him to the ground as they order him to lie on his stomach, then squirt pepper spray in his face.

Nichols breaks free, scrambles to his feet and sprints off down a road with officers in pursuit, firing stun guns at him.

A separate video shows a subsequent struggle after officers catch up with Nichols, and are beating him. Two officers are seen holding him down as a third kicks him and a fourth delivers blows with what appears to be a rod before another punches the stricken man.

Nichols can be seen and heard calling out “Mom!” as he is being beaten and pepper-sprayed.

The four segments of highly anticipated footage from police body-worn and dashboard cameras were posted online on Friday evening a day after the officers were charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression.

The officers, all black, had already been dismissed from the police department last Saturday following their January 7 confrontation with Nichols after pulling him over.

He succumbed to his injuries and died three days later while hospitalised.

Memphis police chief Cerelyn Davis and lawyers for Nichols' family, who watched the video with his relatives before it was released, warned in advance that the images were brutal and likely to cause outrage, while appealing to the public for calm.

The footage was likely to transform Nichols, the father of a four-year-old described as an affable, accomplished skateboarder who recently enrolled in a photography class, into the next face of the US racial justice movement.

Raised in Sacramento, California, Nichols moved before the coronavirus pandemic to the Memphis area, where he lived with his mother and stepfather and worked at FedEx, taking a break each day to come home for a meal prepared by his mother.

Nichols' family and President Joe Biden have appealed for protests to stay peaceful in Memphis, a city of 628,000 where nearly 65% of residents are black. Schools were scheduled to close early and Saturday morning events were cancelled.

Reuters


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