The Memphis authorities released more than an hour of the length of the violent beating of Tyrus Nichols in which the officer held the Black motorist down and struck repeatedly while screaming for his mother.
The video surfaced a day after the officers were charged with killing Nichols.
The footage shows police brutally beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes. The Nichols family’s legal team has compared the attack to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles driver Rodney King.
“I’m going to baton the (expletive) out you,” one officer can be heard saying. Body cameras showed him raising the baton while at least one other officer grabbed Nichols.
After the beating, the officers ran for several minutes, while Nichols sat in the car, then slumped in the street.
Cities across the country are gearing up for massive demonstrations. The Nichols family is asking supporters to protest peacefully.
“This young man, by the legal definition of this country, was terrorized. Not one, not two, but five officers that we now know … acted in concert with one another,” said attorney Antonio Romanucci, who is representing the Nichols family.
The officers “acted together … to cause harm, terrorism, suppression of freedom, suppression of constitutional rights, resulting in murder,” Romanucci said.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn Davis described the officer’s actions as “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” and said that her department has not been able to substantiate the allegations of reckless driving that he was asked to stop.
He told The Associated Press in an interview that there was no video of the traffic stop that showed Nichols driving recklessly.
During the initial stop, the video showed the officer “had ramped up, about 10 times,” he said. The officer was “aggressive, loud, used foul language and may have intimidated Mr. Nichols from the beginning.”
“We know something happened before this officer or that officer got out of the vehicle … Just knowing the nature of the officer, it takes something to get him amped, you know, that’s the way it is. We don’t know what happened,” he said.
“All we know is that the amount of force applied in this situation is much higher,” Davis said.
Because of the possibility of protests, Davis told ABC that he and other local officials decided it would be best to release the video during the day, after school had dismissed and people had gone home from work.
Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, warned supporters of the “horrifying” nature of the video but called for peace.
“I don’t want us to burn down our city, tear up the streets, because it’s not my son,” he said Thursday. “If you were here for me and Tire, you would protest peacefully.”
Speaking at the White House, President Joe Biden said Friday that he was “deeply concerned” about the prospect of violence and called on protesters to remain peaceful.
Biden said he spoke with Nichols’ mother earlier in the day and said he would “make the case” to Congress to pass the George Floyd Act “to get this under control.” The law, which has since stalled, was intended to address police misconduct and excessive force and promote federal and state accountability efforts.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said he was “shocked” by the video and that all FBI field officers have been alerted to work with their state and local partners, including in Memphis, “if anything goes wrong.”
Court records show that all five former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — were taken into custody.
The officers are each facing charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Four of the five officers had posted bond and were released from custody Friday morning, according to court and jail records.
Martin’s attorney, William Massey, and Mills’ attorney, Blake Ballin, said their clients pleaded not guilty. Attorneys for Smith, Bean and Haley could not be reached.
“No one that night intended for Tire Nichols to die,” Massey said.
Second-degree murder is punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.
Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, condemned the alleged actions of the Memphis officers.
“Events like the one described to us are not legitimate police duties or wrongful traffic stops. This is a criminal attack under the pretext of the law,” Yoes said in a statement.
Rallies and demonstrations are planned for Friday night in Memphis, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Portland, Oregon and Washington.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, said he and other mayors across the country had been informed by the White House before the release of the video, which he said would “trigger pain and sadness in many of us. It will make us angry.
Romanucci and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who also represents the Nichols family, called on the police chief to disband the department’s scorpion unit focused on street crime.
Nichols “at all times was an innocent victim,” said Romanucci on Friday. “He is not wrong. He was caught in the sting. The scorpion unit is designed to saturate in the guise of crime fighting, and what has been done is to create a continuous pattern and bad behavior.
Davis said the other officers are still under investigation for violating department policy. In addition, he said a “comprehensive and independent review” would be carried out in the department’s special unit, without elaborating further.
Two firefighters were also removed from duty.
As the state and federal investigation continues, Davis pledged the police department’s “full and complete cooperation.”
Crump said the video showed Nichols being shocked, pepper-sprayed and taken into custody when he was pulled over near the home. He was returning from a suburban park where he had taken photos of the sunset.
The family has accused police of causing Nichols to suffer a heart attack and kidney failure. Authorities said only that Nichols had a medical emergency.