Five Memphis police officers have been charged with second-degree murder, among other charges, for their role in the death of Tyre Nichols.
Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, was hospitalized after Memphis police officers pulled him over for a traffic stop on Jan. 7 and used force to arrest him. On Jan. 10, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced that Nichols had died from his injuries.
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Former officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith are charged with second-degree murder, two counts of official misconduct, one count of official oppression, aggravated assault-act in concert, and two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
Haley, Martin, and Smith are in jail on a $350,000 bond, and Bean and Mills were booked on a $250,000 bond.
All five officers surrendered on Thursday and are being booked into the Shelby County Jail. They were previously fired for violating policies on excessive use of force, duty to render aid, and duty to intervene, per the Memphis Police Department.
A source told CNN that the police video showing the stop is expected to be released on Friday. In the police department’s initial description of the incident, the officers pulled Nichols over on suspicions of reckless driving. “Confrontations” ensued between the officers and Nichols both during the stop and after police chased Nichols down, who fled from the stop on foot.
Nichols’s family, who were shown the video on Monday, said it showed the officers severely beating Nichols for three minutes and compared it to the 1991 video of police beating Rodney King in Los Angeles. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Nichols was tased, pepper-sprayed, and restrained, and family attorney Antonio Romanucci said he was kicked.
“He was defenseless the entire time. He was a human pinata for those police officers. It was an unadulterated, unabashed, nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes. That is what we saw in that video,” Romanucci said via CNN. “Not only was it violent, it was savage.”
Nichols’s death has caused widespread outrage and frustration among activists and citizens across the United States, as heavy scrutiny over police brutality continues to build since the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis released a video statement condemning the brutal attack, calling it a “failing of basic humanity.”
“This incident was heinous, reckless, and inhumane, and in the vein of transparency, when the video is released in the coming days, you will see this for yourselves,” Davis said.
She said that she hoped for peaceful protests ahead of the video’s release, which is planned for 6 p.m. on Friday.
“I expect our citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to protest to demand action and results. But we need to ensure our community is safe in this process,” Davis said. “None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens.”
President Joe Biden offered condolences to Nichols’s family, echoing Davis’s call for peaceful protesting and said violence is “never acceptable.”
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Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy held a press conference Thursday at 2 p.m. local time to announce the charges.
