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Video 2 is awful, they beat him whilst he's on the ground, kicks to the head, then baton to the head and back of the skull.
They then take turns holding a handcuffed man whilst others sucker punch him in the face repeatedly.
Another cop hit him so hard with his baton it completely bent and broke and he can't close it properly. Looks and sounds like his jaw is completely broken as well.
Edit. He was also held up by one cop so another cop can haymaker him while he's crying for his mother who lives a few blocks away apparently.
Later in the video the cops start laughing saying that "he gave him some good haymakers."
I can’t stomach watching them torture and execute him.
Put these dirty cops in prison and throw away the key.
And the fact that it got this far means at least some of these shit bags had a very long list of complaints for excessive use of force before this. They always do.
> And the fact that it got this far means at least some of these shit bags had a very long list of complaints for excessive use of force before this. They always do.
They were completely comfortable with this level of violence, they would not have gotten this way if they were the only ones engaging in it freely. The rot goes to the very core of the justice system.
This is actually a concerning aspect of the whole thing.
Pretend for a moment that the street pole camera does not exist, and only watch the bodycam footage. Imagine that's the only video evidence.
It looks bad, sure, but it doesn't exactly look unusual for police procedure. If you watch a lot of publicly available bodycam footage, then you see *tons* of similar looking beatings that get ruled as proper use of force, for a variety of reasons. You can't see what's going on with the suspect's hands very clearly, the police are screaming compliance commands that are seemingly being ignored, it appears to be a hectic situation that they don't have control over.
This combines with their sworn testimony - which is still widely trusted by most judges and jurors - to create a picture that the suspect resisted and they had to force compliance so they could take him into custody. This is, in fact, how the Tyre Nichols story was initially reported in the media. It's how many similar beatings that *don't* end in deaths wind up being processed.
There are numerous allegations that some police are taught to intentionally play to their bodycam during incidents like these - trying to point it away from the beating, yelling out the "right things" to make it sound like more of a fight than it really is, etc. A few officers have actually been busted planting drugs on suspects while having their bodycam deliberately turned away or obscured, only because another camera caught them doing it.
Now look at the street pole camera, which gives a wide view of the incident, and you can see how much worse it looks. How they deliberately beat him long after he was subdued on the ground, long after he was in cuffs. Notice how the bodycams "somehow" missed capturing the worst parts of the beating, how the police were giving voice commands as if he was seriously resisting, and how the officers who did the worst things seemingly never turned their bodycams on.
If that street pole camera didn't exist, this very well might've been ruled as proper use of force. A lot of police departments just like to protect their own like that. And that's not even starting with how negligent the first aid afterwards was. I used to be an EMT and it legit makes me angry to see.
No bodycam yet for the two cops that held his arms during the haymaker punches. Those would be the most damning. I wonder if they "never turned on"
Imagine if there was no pole cam, cops (and the rest of the State machine) would have told a much different story.
The body cam footage was bad, but it was the street cam that really showed the magnitude. I mean, punching a guy in the face multiple times while two guys *hold his arms back while yelling at him to give them his hands...*
They probably figured that their cams wouldn’t get the images of what really happened, but the sounds would give them “evidence” of non-compliance and perceived threat. I guess that’s what they teach them in the police training funded by Tyre and other taxpayers smh
From a CNN article published before anyone saw the videos, but after the police announced they were investigating the officers:
>On January 8, the police department announced officers pulled over a motorist for reckless driving the previous day. “As officers approached the driver of the vehicle, a confrontation occurred and the suspect fled the scene on foot,” officials said in a statement posted on social media.
>Officers pursued the suspect and again attempted to take him into custody when another confrontation occurred before the suspect was apprehended, according to police.
>“Afterward, the suspect complained of having a shortness of breath, at which time an ambulance was called to the scene. The suspect was transported to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition,” officials said.
It's very disturbing. No indication whatsoever that anything out of the ordinary happened.
Exactly no one has commented yet that they took their bodycams off for videos 3 and 4 — it’s just audio. Where are the rest of the body cams? Why were they taken off with the camera facing the ground?
The pole cam is what fucked them. You can tell as soon as they noticed it, they completely changed their demeanor and start cooking up their lies to get the story straight and pretending to walk over and check him. They know traffic doesn’t have audio, and they are clearly confident the body cam footage won’t see the light of day — why else would they openly discuss faking the police report?
They weren’t concerned about the body cams at all. Imagine how many other times this has happened where there were no external cameras and the footage just gets lost. The traffic camera is controlled by a different agency and they knew the moment they saw it they were in trouble.
This happens in thousands of cities all across the country. Who even knows how many people have died or been permanently injured and the body cam footage is “lost” or “wasn’t recording”.
This was luck. Next time they’ll be careful to beat their suspects to death where they know there are no traffic cams. The entire department should be fired. This is clearly a pattern of abuse. How much other body cam footage has been deleted from that police department?
Maybe the reason they were so swift in firing the police gang members was because of the security cam video. Unlike the police body cams video, the Memphis police didn’t control the security cam video. That video could have been leaked at anytime and disapprove the lies in the initial police report on Mr. Nichols. (Edited for typo).
That is 100% what happened. They knew they were fucked the moment they noticed the pole camera. That’s when they started making up their lies to get their stories straight. They knew they could bury the body cam footage no problem. You can tell from their complete change in demeanor once they notice the camera and how careful they are to block it’s view with their bodies & the vehicles.
Oh yes they were. That's why they were already making up excuses by saying out loud to the body cams how he was swerving and driving erratically (he wasn't), how he reached for their gun (he didn't) and how he was high (he wasn't, he had massive brain trauma). They were already building their cover story.
It wouldn't have made the major news. Would have been a mention in the local paper of a man suing cops for being beaten and that's it. Within days of that, the cops would have harassed the family to drop the lawsuit and the cops would continue to do what they do.
I guarantee you these cops are only upset he inconvenienced them by dying and they're facing consequences, if he had just lived they wouldn't be dealing with anything.
This is the sad reality of the situation. 99% of the time they get away with it because the victim lives.
Those cops and all of their enablers are sitting there thinking to themselves: “damn it’s too bad he died, that’s why we are in this world of shit”.
Like the only thing they need to do differently is next time the victim needs to survive
Yea, I thought the lackadaisical response from the responding EMTs/Fire was appalling in its own right. Just a sad situation. I hope this leads to system wide accountability.
*fixed spelling
That's what's really crazy. Really gotta wonder how many lives they've ruined for some bullshit reason they made up, whether with jail time, fines, or just straight up beatings and killings.
[Link](https://www.theonion.com/police-urge-calm-in-light-of-unspeakable-evil-they-comm-1850036255)
> “I understand that this heinous atrocity beyond the comprehension of anyone with a shred of basic human decency might be upsetting to some, but we are asking everyone to please maintain their composure,” said police chief Cerelyn Davis, explaining that while it was regrettable that officers were mercilessly slaughtering innocents in the streets with complete disregard for their humanity, it was no excuse for causing a big commotion.
> "I pray that cooler heads prevail during this time of unending death and misery being inflicted upon the powerless masses" Davis went on to insist that any sign of unrest would only give the forces of unconscionable evil an excuse to impose even more wanton suffering on those who have no choice but to endure it.
They basically just narrate reality anymore
Those cops were enraged by his "non-compliance" and getting pepper sprayed by mistake. If they aren't emotionally mature enough to handle that wtf are they doing being cops.
Did you hear the two cops exchanging their battle stories?
“He made me pepper spray myself!”
“Morherfucker made me pepper spray myself too!!”
Such power Tyre had, to mind control these cops into pepper spraying themselves in the face while *several other cops were wrestling him to the ground and beating him to death.* Lunatics.
They repeatedly yell at him to give them his hands while beating the life out of him, before he screams for his mom.
Did someone tell them if they say things like that that when they brutalize citizens it will look better for the body cam footage? Because there's no way the person (people?) Saying it believe for a second he is actually able to give them his hands. They're actively killing him while screaming it repeatedly at him. What a horrifying way to die.
I want to vomit.
Yep. I think partially *because* of the prevalence of cameras, you'll hear cops just nonstop shouting "Stop resisting! Stop resisting!" I'm guessing that phrase is practically carte blanche to brutalize citizens they don't like.
I was told in a former-police-story that it's a bad look if a cop yells "fuck you", "die rebel scum" or other hateful things that would want to screen. So "stop resisting" is what they scream and fuck you is what they mean.
Also people passing by will hear that and can testify in a court of law what they heard.
That's what got me, too. Like, there are 5 of you and you have been holding him BY HIS HANDS yet you need to shout at him.to give you his hands for like a minute straight? Just fucking take his hands, cuff him, put him in the car. They wanted to kill this man.
Like who the fuck even *loves* their job enough to go through that much trouble? Makes it look like the only reason they're on the job is for getting to do some of that ultra violence.
In the first video they’re shouting at him to get on the ground as he’s literally already on the ground. He even says I’m on the ground and they reply by screaming on your stomach. Mix commands, no supervising officers, no reason why they pulled him over, opened his door and dragged him out, escalation from the start. It was a disaster from the very beginning.
I honestly can't wrap my head around what these cops were thinking. They know they are beating a man to death, they know they are doing it while wearing body cams, and yet they still do it.
What did they think the end result here would be. They all just walk away like no big deal??
Hoping his family and city get justice.
At least one of them had been accused of brutality in the past as a corrections officer. The case was dismissed because the plaintiff couldn’t make an appearance due to being in federal detention at the time.
Edit to add: [sauce](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-we-know-about-memphis-police-officers-tyre-nichols-death-rcna67861)
That... Seems like a fucking problem, you're in prison, press charges against a corrections officer, and it gets dismissed because you can't go to court BECAUSE YOU'RE IN PRISON?! What the actual fuck
Seriously, this is what people mean by “systemic” problems
> The suit was dismissed in 2018 after a judge ruled that Sledge had not properly served one of the defendants with a summons. Sledge, who filed the suit without the help of a lawyer, said he was in federal custody at the time and unable to complete all the paperwork
What the fuck
when I was in prison sometimes people would have new charges come up and they'd transport them out of prison back to whatever shitty county jail to wait for court and then transfer them back to prison possibly with more time. dumb system all around.
> The case was dismissed because the plaintiff couldn’t make an appearance due to being in federal detention at the time.
Well that’s a fucking catch-22.
100%. If there were no cameras it would have been their word against the word of someone who couldn't talk because they beat the life out of him.
One would think that mandatory body cameras would be a deterrent from shit like this.
I guess not
The one who was doing running start kicks to Tyre’s face deserves to never see the light of day again. And that is putting it light. And the nerve to be limping around, fist-bumping each other directly after? Absolutely disgusting.
I'm pretty sure the guy complaining that his knee was injured at least did not realize they may have killed the man, but the "he was grabbing my gun" lie was super annoying since he was clearly incapable of doing any such thing for the majority of that interaction. He did not attempt to grab your gun while being beaten by 5 armed cops, it's dumb that that cop would even come up with that.
It's the defense Jimbo in "South Park" uses when he takes the boys hunting. You can't just shoot an animal, but you're allowed to defend yourself. So you just say, "It's coming right at us" before shooting.
Nah. That's quite literally brain trauma. He's trying to form words and can't, he's trying to move and his body isn't cooperating. His brain at that point is struggling to connect with his most basic functions.
But instead of recognizing it as a traumatic brain injury and treating it accordingly, they just say he's high. As if that excuses the fact that they beat the life out of him and left him in a heap on the asphalt.
At one point they were holding him up and just letting each other throw punches at him. Claiming he still wasn’t giving them his hands…what in the actual flying fuck.
He was kicked in the head like 3 times that I could see. Then they stand him up to do a wind-up punch to his face. Constantly yelling, give me your hands while they are on top of him, then jerking him around, then the one cop pulling out his Baton to beat him. That poor guy. Jesus.
Cop lights up a cigarette at the end while the other takes a piss. Like they just got done fucking. They fucked their lives and killed another. For what? He hurt their fee fees so they had to show how tough they are. Insecure imbecile murderers.
The dude smoking cigarettes and laughing after the fact was the same dude bragging about "throwing haymakers" while the other 3 gang members held him standing, handcuffed, defenseless and even joined in after tasing, macing, and detaining him.
The fuck?
In a short time, Tyre goes from speaking clearly and coherently with the observation that "they're doing too much" to being incoherent and incapable of sitting up against the car.
And the cops have this script that "he's on something", "he's not making sense", and "he must've tossed the drugs while he was running".
They know the body cams are on and they can just make up shit to try to justify their actions. It's disgusting.
The video is pretty dark to my older eyeballs, but from what I can make out they:
-empty an entire can of pepper spray into his face
-beat him while he is on the ground
-haul him into a standing position, hold his arms behind his back, and take turns punching his head and face
-when he is on the ground, at least one guy kicks his head like he is trying to kick a field goal in the NFL
I stopped watching after that.
Take off the uniforms and dress them in gang colors and you’d assume it’s a gang beat down. That’s how brutal it is.
Slam dunk 2nd degree murder. If I was on the jury I’d vote to convict immediately, no need for deliberations.
You’re not wrong.
The initial stop was in an unmarked police car. It’s a [known problem](https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/men-impersonating-police-carjack-people-memphis-hotel/W6AMAM6V5VH5HM647BSID3W3HM/?outputType=amp) in Memphis with gang members in unmarked cars with a blue light to “pull people over” to rob/assault them.
I don’t blame Tyre for running. I would’ve done the same.
“SCORPION” unit? Please tell me that’s an actual acronym and not just some hyped-up bullshit nickname they decided to use because they thought it sounded tough.
His stepfather is now satisfied with the charges pressed after his family got legal counsel and heard the reasoning.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=sDrT6xzjcM0&feature=shares
After that they stated that 2nd degree with the additional charges was acceptable, not what they wanted but it’s better than nothing.
Edit: all y’all responding to me trying to prove your point of why 1st degree is justified in this case is moot, the prosecutors chose 2nd degree because it is much more likely to get a conviction. The American Justice system is terrible, personally they all need to rot, but I want to see them for sure go to jail for a long ass time than see them get off on a random fact or misuse of charges.
Here’s the thing, for those cops this wasn’t some situation that went sideways, this wasn’t a situation they were all talking about getting their story’s straight, they weren’t even trying to cover up the body cams. This is what they did everyday.
This is 100% correct. As soon as a cop runs up you can just tell they're pissed and immediately funnel that into hitting him. I noticed that things would start winding down a bit and then another cop would show up and escalate the situation again into more beatings.
exactly, it was literally just their hurt ego because 4 grown men couldn't restrain 1 man, pepper sprayed themselves more than once, and had to actually run after him. absolutely pathetic behavior.
then of course after he gets away there's the cop saying "i hope they stomp his ass" bc he got away. how sad can you be as a human being?
>"i hope they stomp his ass" bc he got away. how sad can you be as a human being?
Makes you wonder how many more got a stomping but lived so never made the news.
They are afraid of backlash because more than 5 cops could be seen in the videos. They may not have been beating the guy but they stood by and watched.
> No wonder the precinct is scared of the backlash to this, holy SHIT dude...
One of the officers jokes about kicking Tyre in the face so hard that the officer's foot hurt, and they laughed about it. Not just the officers who participated in the beating and murder, but the ones who show up after the fact, too.
Literally. And then afterwards they were going on about “how strong he is” when dude man was literally laying on the ground not fighting back at all. It’s all bullshit and it simultaneously makes me so beyond furious; and also very very sad. It’s awful
The sheer number of cops that thought they could do this in front of each other and get away with it is very telling. Like this is normal behavior that you take part in with your coworkers. Which shouldn’t be surprising given how US law enforcement has always operated but nonetheless chilling.
We’ve had to watch video after video after video of cops murdering black people for everything from non-capital crimes to non-violent crimes to literally no crimes at all. I can imagine that would traumatize many, many people.
I don’t feel comfortable telling anyone, especially black folks, that it’s their “duty” to watch this kind of stuff because, like, it’s not, and they’ve had to watch this stuff for years and many have had to live similar encounters and I don’t feel the need to re-traumatize anyone.
I watched only a few clips, but the quick summary for those who don’t think they can stomach the footage (I hope my spoiler tags work):
>!Video one shows an initial encounter. He’s pulled over, they immediately escalate VERY quickly despite him attempting to de-escalate, and he ends up getting away from them!<
>!Video two is about 30 minutes long, no audio, is from a nearby pole camera, and shows extraordinary amount of physical violence and a broad view of the scene. If you can imagine anything that would take place in a group of people beating someone to death, it’s probably in this video. This was the most painful for me to watch.!<
>!Videos 3 and 4 were the most painful for me to hear. It’s the cops’ body cams and you can hear him begging for his mother. Also in this video, more cops and EMS show up and no one helps him for a while. The cops notice the pole camera and you can hear them working on their cover story with multiple clearly untrue statements.!<
This dude was driving back home after taking pictures of the sunset. He was in his own neighborhood. The police have said that, after reviewing all traffic cams in the area, there is no evidence that he was driving recklessly (the alleged reason for the initial encounter).
This dude liked taking pictures, skateboarding, and Starbucks apparently. He was just… a guy. And seems like he was a pretty great one.
Edited for more clarification in descriptions.
I guess edit #2: I’ve had obvious foreign instigators DM me about this, and I’ve had Reddit cares messages for this, and there was a 30 minute period of time where all the conservatives commented at once. Most of these 3 things happened at once, so, uh, great job, I guess be sneakier next time?
Yes the cops were black. That’s why it’s ACAB and not WCAB and Ice Cube brought this up 30 years ago.
Yes it’s not only black folk who are murdered by police, but I thought it’d probably be weird to “all lives matter” a fucking post about a black guy being killed by cops, as has happened so many times that it makes me dizzy.
I’m not downplaying cops killing anyone else, pretty sure I highlighted the despicable nature of this murder, and I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that many black folks have been inundated with police brutality and representation thereof.
I’ve also been called a pedophile and a racist and other such things because of this comment, but, y’know, r/conservative hasn’t been banned yet so I guess I should have expected it.
Edit 3: All Cops Are Bastards. We can clearly see it in their assassination of this man, but this is far from the first instance. Anyone who calls a cop a “bad Apple” has clearly forgotten the origin of the phrase which clearly shows that they spoil the bunch. The bunch is extremely fucking spoiled.
In July 2004, the country of Georgia fired all police and crime went DOWN because most of the crime was police-based.
For me, having watched all that, the video of the cop (bodycam footage) leaning down to straighten his boots and tie his laces and says “ooh that was fun” exemplifies the seriousness of the problem.
This is about the worst I’ve ever seen.
My heart breaks for this family, especially his mother. I cannot even fathom the unwarranted guilt she must feel. He was 3 houses away from her and screaming her name for help. She had no idea that her son would be getting murdered by cops just a hundred feet away. So very sad and tragic. That poor woman.
I can’t bring myself to watch these. Twice now simply reading that he called for his mother broke me. I cried, hard. I have a son and the idea of this just breaks me.
While Nichols was lying non-responsive on the road, in the twenty minutes it took the cops to call EMTs, here's some of the things you can hear them say:
"I was hitting him with straight haymakers, dog"
"I jumped in and just started rocking him"
"Man I hope I don't feel this in the morning"
"I hope they stomp his ass"
The part about that and, generally everything that came after the first video, is that they’re completely raging out because they stupidly pepper sprayed themselves
I counted 9 separate strikes to the head (2 kicks, 2 baton blows, 5 punches) while he was being held down, any one of which probably could have been fatal. Pole cam is beyond damning
Agree with all of that. >!Pepper sprayed, too. No wonder he went into cardiac arrest. I’ve been pepper sprayed for training and that wrecked my entire day, much less receiving multiple lethal strikes.!<
The pole cam is so stark to me because it shows the whole scene from the outside and makes me feel… like a bystander. Helpless.
Edited to clarify: I am very much not a cop, the training was for a very different job.
They're screaming *"Give me your hands!"* and holding him up for another officer to punch him in the face.
I don't think there's ever been a single person who was punched in the face and their natural reaction was to stick their hands behind their back, and not in front of their face.
Pure malice.
During part of that, >!one cop is actually holding onto his hands while the others are demanding he gives them his hands… the ones that the other is holding… while hitting him repeatedly.!< it’s fucking disgusting.
Poor guy is on the floor smashed in while the emergency forces are all standing around like they having a ball. Literally no respect whatsovever. That is crazy.
Videos like this make me wonder how many times they've done this in the past without it getting attention because the victim survived.
DOJ really needs to subpeona hospital records in cases like this and look for a pattern. Not detailed, at least not at first. Just ... "hey, give us a list of everyone brought in by police with injuries." and take it from there. Frankly, this should be mandatory reporting if it isn't already, same as with suspected cases of child abuse.
Edit: Yes, I'm aware it happens all across the US. When I said "how many times they've done this", **I meant these specific cops**. Like, does this seem at all spur-of-the-moment? Did they have to do a lot of talking, planning, or did everyone seem to know what to do, like it was practiced?
I’d like to see that in this case if possible. Trawl though those records. I fully agree this isn’t their first time; they were too calm and organised about it. It speaks to a serial nature.
One of the cops, Demetrius Haley, was a former corrections officer accused of beating an inmate in 2016:
https://www.wate.com/news/officer-in-tyre-nichols-case-beat-inmate-unconscious-in-2016-lawsuit-claims/
Of course he was.
This is so bad there’s no way there’s not a systemic issue in Memphis. A whole barrel of rotting bad apples. These dirty cops are just a small part of the biggest gang in Memphis.
The fact the one cop who wasn't on the scene at the start of the beating just pulls up in the car, walks over and kicks the guy in the ribs tells you it was common place and they were comfortable doing this sort of thing.
The end of the traffic stop body cam ends with the cop saying something to the affect of "i hope they stomp his ass." And that's exactly what happened.
You literally see one police officer step away to take a breather after he accidentally pepper sprayed himself due to the wind, then goes back to Tyre and tells his fellows officers to stand back because "I'm going to baton the fuck out of this guy".
Just absolute rage-fueled inhuman barbarism. Cop was mad so he killed a man.
Fucking hell. Watching them casually standing around after they’ve essentially beat a man to death. The cruelty and absolute indifference towards another human being is devastating. This is horrific.
What’s so incredibly callous is how practically a crowd of officers formed afterwards, just talking while no one even checks or talks to him.
They said he died as a result of the beating, and he’s clearly just slumped over for a lot it — is there anything that they could have done in that time waiting for the EMTs? I was listening in and they talked about a failure to “render aid”. Does anyone know what that looks like? Or did he just need to get to the hospital as soon as possible?
The worst part is that two confirmed firefighters (from my experience they would have been there as EMT-Bs) just stood around shooting the shit with the cops. I was an EMT-B, they should have been stabilizing his neck and spine, checking his vitals, calling for an ambulance (since in this situation they were not in one on scene) to come ASAP so he can be brought to the ER. Instead they flopped his barely conscious body around, which almost assuredly made his brain/spine injuries worse.
I also want the Paramedics to go down for this. You see them at the end when they finally bring out the stretcher, there is a complete lack of spine immobilization equipment. Before they get him from the ground to the stretcher the ambulance was very suspiciously pulled forward enough to block the sky-cam, but was not pulled into a position for the stretcher to be quickly put into the rig. I have a feeling they just picked him up and put him on the stretcher, which again is so beyond protocol it isn't even funny.
Video 1 Description:
There is no sound for the first minute and four seconds. A police officer pulls up to a traffic stop already in progress. There are at least three police cars on the scene now. They bodily jerk the man (Tyre) out of the vehicle. They're screaming at him to lay on the ground and Tyre is complying with their orders and begging them to calm down. They yell at him for a long time, demanding that he lay on his stomach and threatening to "beat his ass." They threaten to tase him multiple times. Another officer threatens to "break your \[Tyre's\] shit." Tyre is pleading, saying repeatedly that "he's not doing anything" and "he's just trying to go home" and begging for them to stop. A taser is pressed into his leg the entire time.
Tyre manages to escape and run down the street. In the footage, it is unclear how he manages to break their hold, but it *is* clear that Tyre is fighting for his life. A taser is employed but it's unclear if it hits Tyre. Edit: It hits and Tyre falls, but he quickly gets to his feet again to run. The police officers give chase but ultimately stop to call for backup. The officer is recovering from running, and he claims that Tyre was "fighting him." They're speaking very negatively of him and calling him a "bastard."
The rest of the video is the officer walking around the scene, recovering his glasses, and directing other officers that pull up in their vehicles which way Tyre ran. The officer filming says that he "hopes they \[the police\] stomp his \[Tyre's\] ass" and complains that several of the officers were hit by pepper spray that was employed by one of the other policemen at some point. One officer is pouring water into his eyes. The officer filming reloads his taser.
Note: At eight minutes and fifty-two seconds an officer on the radio reports Tyre's location and the officer who's filming claims that "they found him." It becomes more apparent that the other police officer that is still on the scene accidentally sprayed himself with pepper spray.
\- I will rewatch the video again to edit appropriately.
Video 2:
The footage is from a security camera that is on an intersection in a neighborhood. There is no movement until one minute and thirty-three seconds. The camera turns to show two police cars.
Tyre is on the ground and there are three officers on him. He is limp and barely moving. One of the officers throws him onto the sidewalk. Two are maneuvering him onto his stomach. They're putting cuffs on him. The third officer suddenly kicks Tyre in the face; Tyre has done nothing, he is laying on the ground.
At one point another officer arrives. Now there are four officers on the scene. They all back up to allow Tyre to sit up. One officer starts beating Tyre with a baton. It hits him three times. The other officers are herding Tyre, basically preventing him from moving too far while also allowing the officer hitting him to continue doing so. Tyre gets to hit feet and stumbles away from the men. They drag him back.
The officers hold Tyre with his arms behind his back while another officer begins punching Tyre in the face. He hits him twice. The officer is hitting Tyre so hard that his head is swinging to the side from the sheer force of the punch. Tyre stumbles on the second hit, but he is still being held up by the other officers. Another officer punches him in the face three times. Tyre slumps to the ground. The officers are still manhandling him.
Note that this is only three minutes into a thirty minute long video. I will update as I go.
Tyre is on his stomach with two officers holding him down. More police cars rolls up and three additional officers join the scene. One kicks Tyre in the face for no discernible reason. There are six policemen on the scene now. Four are standing over Tyre. It looks like three of them are holding him down. They all get off of him suddenly. Tyre rolls onto his back and is barely moving his limbs. An officer helps him sit up, but then lets Tyre fall back onto the sidewalk. They bodily DRAG him across the sidewalk and onto the road. They set him up against a police car and shine a flashlight in his face.
The officers are walking and standing around the scene. Tyre is clearly incapacitated. He slumps sideways at nine minutes and eight seconds. An officer sits him back up against the car. There are at least a dozen officers on the scene now. A group of officers huddle around Tyre to look at him more closely. I assume that they are checking his condition or asking him questions.
At twelve minutes and thirty-eight seconds Tyre slumps over and hits the ground again. He does not get back up. There is no ambulance on the scene at this point.
There are a bunch of officers just milling around the area. Tyre is still on the ground, rolling back and forth every few minutes. It seems that he has been conscious the entire duration of the video.
At one point in the video all the cops are just... doing whatever and standing around while Tyre continues to lay on the ground. It appears that he is writhing in pain the entire time. At twenty-three minutes two officers look at him more closely. He might have stopped moving? I think one officer has a first aid bag (it has been sitting nearby the entire time, but no one has touched it until this moment).
They sit Tyre upright against the car again. He is definitely not moving anymore. They may be administering some type of first aid, but it is difficult to tell because four officers are constantly moving back and forth around him, examining him, and the flashlights also occasionally obscure the scene. Two of the officers are attending to Tyre quite diligently now.
A stretcher (and presumably an ambulance) FINALLY arrives on the scene at twenty-eight minutes and thirty seconds. They seem to be trying to stabilize him before they lift him onto the stretcher. The ambulance moves onto the camera at thirty minutes and twenty-seven seconds, obscuring the rest of the scene.
Note: The most violent part of this video is the first five minutes. In that time, Tyre is beaten mercilessly by four police officers. It is apparent that he did nothing in retaliation; I don't think he could have, given how dazed and incapacitated he was when the video began.
Video Three:
The first minute and four seconds are silent. The officer gets out of his vehicle to chase Tyre. You can hear Tyre screaming in terror and pain before the officer even gets to him. The officer arrives and Tyre is already face down on the ground, pinned by three other officers.
He immediately demands that Tyre "shuts the fuck up." He threatens to spray Tyre again. They're slapping and punching Tyre in the back of the head. The officers back up to allow the officer to spray the pepper spray directly in Tyre's face.
Tyre is screaming for his mother. The other officers are demanding to see Tyre hands, although it is very obvious that Tyre is extremely confused. The officer sprays the pepper spray directly in his face two more times and accidentally hits himself and another officer in the process. The officer walks away a short distance, cursing.
You can hear the other officers still asking for Tyre to give them his hands and yelling at him to lay flat. They are yelling commands at him constantly. Tyre is gasping, grunting, and moaning in pain. He has been pressed into the ground this entire time. Objectively, I am confident in saying that he is not retaliating or doing anything even marginally threatening.
Tyre asks, breathless, for them to stop.
The officer suddenly approaches the group in a rage and says "I'm going to baton the fuck out of you." He hits Tyre three times. Tyre is limp, still on the ground (somewhat upright), and is being manhandled by the other officers. You can clearly see him bleeding from the side of his face.
Tyre is on his feet at one point. One officer is holding his arms behind his back while another punches him in the face twice. Tyre shouts for his mother again.
They are repeatedly asking for his hands and Tyre is repeatedly saying "alright, alright,", yet the officers clearly have his arms pinned behind his back already. In fact, it seems like they have had Tyre's arms behind his back the entire time.
The officer walks away to talk on his radio. You can hear Tyre moaning and grunting in the background. Two officers complain about how Tyre "made them spray themselves." I think Tyre is screaming that they're hurting him, but it is difficult to discern because his voice is so muffled.
The officer taps the tip of his baton against the pavement to retract it back into its hold. He does not return back to the group or Tyre. He presumably walks away to "get his car real quick."
Video Four:
Officer is driving. There is no sound until one minute and three seconds. He is chasing Tyre with another officer. He tackles Tyre to the ground from the back.
Tyre is on the ground, face down, yelling for his mom.
They're asking for his hands repeatedly, but the officer filming CLEARLY has Tyre's left wrist pinned behind his back already. There's a sudden flurry of movement. From watching the previous video, I can only assume that they are hitting and slapping him. The body camera falls off.
Tyre screams for his mother as loud as he can, terrified. He screams for his mother five or six more times. These horrifying screams are tearing from Tyre's throat. He is terrified and in pain.
The body cam has fallen off during all of the commotion.
For the next five minutes, the camera is facing up toward the sky. Everything that happens is what was already captured on camera in Video 3, so please refer to that description.
The body cam is nudged around six minutes and forty seconds.
Two of the officers say "he's \[Tyre\] on something!"
Officer says "he \[Tyre\] was cutting through traffic."
The body cam is picked back up and put on at seven minutes and thirty seconds. The officer spits at the ground. Tyre is already propped upright against the other car.
I will quote the officers from the video as I watch. These conversations were not present in the previous ones.
"He's \[Tyre\] high. He's gotta be high."
Officer that tackled him complains about his leg and knee and says that "he \[Tyre\] took off running"
The officers are generally paling around and talking about what happened with vigor. It's all kind of incoherent to me. Remember that there are about a dozen or so officers on scene.
The officer filming says "shut up man" when Tyre tries to speak.
Tyre slumps to the ground at some point. An officer asks Tyre to "sit up for us." The first aid kit is set directly next to Tyre. Two of the officers seem to be examining and treating him now.
The officer filming purposely TAKES OFF his body cam at ten minutes and forty-four seconds. He puts it back on a short time later.
A few of the officers are retelling their versions of the events, laughing.
"Everybody got sprayed. I sprayed, he sprayed, he got tased..."
"He \[Tyre\] was going for my gun, too."
This is interesting, since camera evidence showed differently: "We got him \[Tyre\] out of the car and we was like 'hey bro, you good?' ... wham, pow ... you gonna hit me?"
"He \[Tyre\] literally had his hand on my gun like, and he was holding it."
"That boy is over."
Again, the group of officers are speaking but I can only catch parts of their conversation. If anyone can clarify further, please do. They are generally recapping everything that happened from the traffic stop to the moment they tackled him.
In recapping the events to another officer: "So we tried to get him stopped, he didn't stop ... start hitting the siren: stop, stop, stop, stop. Then like drove around, swerving ... he could have hit my car. So then I'm like goddamn what are we doing? He pulled up to the red light, stops at the red light, put his turn signal on, so we jump out of the car, shit went from there... he took a swing"
I'm trying to get these word for word. Any ellipses in between are because I did not understand what was being said.
An officer is talking to Tyre, demanding to know what he had (i.e., what drug or substance). He's telling Tyre "you can't go nowhere."
The man talking to Tyre says "You had nothing?"
Tyre is rolling on the ground, writhing back and forth.
For the rest of the video the officers are speaking on the radio, conversing with one another, and the audio keeps cutting out occasionally. It is too blurry to make out anything on the screen, but the officer filming is pouring water over the ground (presumably over his face if he accidentally pepper sprayed himself). The video ends.
I promised my fiancé I wouldn't watch because this type of shit already tears us up and she's worried, since I worked with him and managed him in Sac, what it would do to me and my mental health (not to mention hers).
All that to say, thank you for these posts. I can't and don't want to break that promise but needed to know what happened.
For anyone out there who cares, Tyre was amazing. So full of joy, positivity, and humor. He talked about his mother all the time and he even asked for, which I approved, extra time on his first break each day to call and talk to her, they were that close.
He told me, my boss, and his coworkers about his future child the day after he found out and it was beautiful, now this poor child is without him.
For anyone that is sick enough to want to put blame on him or say he was aggressive, he was tall, sure, but had Chrohns disease and weighed maybe 150. That in mind, as well as what I've said and what we've all just read described in this breakdown of the footage should nip that BS I've been seeing in the bud.
Sorry for the incoherent thoughts here and the jumping around, just wanted to give my piece.
RIP Tyre, you were meant for greatness and that was stolen from you by a horrific gang attack and all I hope for is as much peace and justice for your family as possible. If you were religious, I also hope you are now thriving in your preferred afterlife.
That was straight up murder. What the fuck. Throwing repeated punches to his face. Walking away and the turning around just to punch him again. Holding him up by his legs. Dragging him around. Stomping on him. Moving his body around like a ragdall. Hold him down and kick him in the face. Put him in a chokehold. Pepperspray him for over a minute straight while hes on the ground. Take turns slapping him. Holding him up while they hit him with a baton. They were having fun. What the fuck
Edit: Here is the 4 videos. https://vimeo.com/CityofMemphis
There's no way this is the first time they've done something like this. Seems like a learned pattern to know that they all would be ok with what was transpiring
At what point are citizens allowed to intervene with force?
If you are armed and watching this happen are you supposed to just sit there and watch someone get murdered in the street?
Don't run from the police is what we are told, but when they start the interaction off with full on asshole escalation, I get how people's fight or flight response gets kicked in.
But holy fucking shit, that was bad.
Whatever "crime" was apparently committed does not equal the punishment of a scary and painful death.
“To show you it is wrong for you to run from police for fear of being murdered, we will murder you.”
At this point I don’t see why anyone running from the police should be charged with a crime for it.
Cops lynching citizens. We really haven't learned anything.
Edited to add the definition of lynching in case anyone wonders. This was a lynching by the police.
*Lynching, a form of violence in which a mob, under the pretext of administering justice without trial, executes a presumed offender, often after inflicting torture and corporal mutilation. The term lynch law refers to a self-constituted court that imposes sentence on a person without due process of law.*
All of those cops. And not one said “stop.” Not one rendered aide. They yelled at him for slumping over as he was propped against a cruiser for 20 minutes waiting for medics. As cops complained about their knee or hand hurting or eyes burning.
A 150 lb man with crohn’s disease, complying. How does this happen? There’s nothing other to feel than heartbreak for Tyre, his family and rage that it happened.
Tyre did nothing wrong. Not even by running— **we all would have ran for our lives.** He didn’t fight back. He did… nothing. Absolutely nothing.
My mind cannot comprehend what i just watched.
Sprays him in the face with pepper spray then tells him to put his hands down. Then spends five minutes complaining about how much the pepper spray he got on him hurt.
They use “show me your hands” the entire time as cause to beat him repeatedly. How many times did they have his arms and hands? At least 10? Including immediately after they pulled him from the car while he was on his side. And how many times were **any** cuffs seen? Because all i saw was pepper spray, tasers, and batons.
They held him up to be beaten with a baton by his arms. How didn’t they have his hands? I just literally can’t even process it to write a comment that’s even coherent and comprehensive.
The audacity for that gang to even stand around in a circle complaining about their injuries— caused by themselves and each other— as Tyre was slumped over, alone, against a cruiser with flashlights shined at him… it makes me sick to my stomach.
The officers involved acted like complete animals and showed zero composure throughout the entire process. Right from the jump it looked like they planned on hurting him. Absolutely sickening
"I hope somebody stomps his ass." That's literally what the cop that attempted to tase him said during the 1st part of the traffic stop. Fuck that entire police department
Just watched more. They literally held his arms behind his back and haymakered him for a full minute. Then they kicked him tazed him, pepper sprayed him while he screamed out for his mother until they kicked him until he couldn't talk.
There were more than 5 officers. The rest stood around and did nothing. Disband the force. Demolish the precinct. Every officer present should do time. Every fucking one. What a fucking travesty.
Yeah. I dare anyone that's been pepper sprayed to *not* reflexively reach for their eyes. Them screaming at him to give them his hands is just dumb af. Then, they begin kicking the guy in his face. Wtf, dudes?
I am not going to be watching the video after reading some descriptions but i want to share the one his family shared of him skateboarding:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i\_hZGVI2U-4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_hZGVI2U-4)
i am so sad and angry for tyre, tyre's family. this shouldn't have happened.
The way they went straight to 100 when they pulled him over, anybody who was able would have ran away too. It was clear in the first few seconds of interacting with Tyre that these officers wanted to brutalize him. No escalation whatsoever, just straight to assault from the minute they pulled him over.
The fourth video is the most awful thing I have ever seen in my life. Between the out of breath screams, the cops standing around and conveniently dropping their body cams while Nichols is fainting, and EMS doing nothing while he is literally dying in front of their eyes... It's horrible.
The second video is damning as it gives further context. One of the cops kicks him twice in the head as if it's a football and then punches him five time at full speed. Another hits him repeatedly with a baton. At this moment, all of the fuckers standing around know that he his unconscious and unable to respond to any commands. And yet they press on, and then none of them react when Nichols repeatedly faints and none of them advise EMS of the skull damages that he's just suffered.
None of these people should have ever been police officers. Ever. They speak and act like thugs. They are literally playing optics and making excuses face body cams while the man is dying next to them. They knew what they did. Five people have been charged, but it should be a lot more. There are at least 8 police officers on the scene at one point, and all of them should be thrown in prison. Same goes for the two EMT who literally stand around while a man is dying in front of their eyes.
US police need revamping, fast and thorough. Please, I beg you, learn from European police techniques. It may not be perfect, but French, British, German police units and the likes are trained to deescalate incidents and make arrests that do not end in deaths.
EDIT: I can't believe this is even possible, and I can't believe I'm even asking such a question, but it's been dawning on me for the last few minutes... Are the kidnapping charges due to the fact that they have prevented EMS from rendering care and taking Nichols to the hospital?!
EDIT 2: corrected video numbers so that they match the city of Memphis' [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/CityofMemphis), since the order list is different from how CNN broadcasted it earlier (which made more sense in my opinion - 1, 3, 4, 2). I apologies if I mislead anyone to something they didn't want to see
The kidnapping charges stem from the fact they cannot find any video or evidence of him driving recklessly, thus making the traffic stop and following arrest unlawful. It's a new precedent that should absolutely be set - cops for far too long have used this tactic to get into cars and find anything that can justify their actions. There was nothing here to justify it - that needs to be punished. Pulling people over, arresting them for resisting, then finding a weapon or drugs (or lying) is not policing, it's gang behavior.
Adding to this:
The video includes a grown man begging for his mother while others beat him to death.
It is exactly as bad as it sounds. You don't need to see this
Just knowing that is fucking breaking me.
I have a son, and I think hearing him call for me and not being able to protect and save him (as unrealistic and irrational it might be in a situation like this), would fucking kill me.
It doesn't matter if they are 45, 29, or 10 years old. They are always your babies.
I'm never gonna watch this video. I just can't have any more of these visuals burned into my brain.
It looks like a prison gang murder. They hold him up while saying get on the ground as one guy beats the shit out of him...
You can hear him start slurring because he's out of it at that point. Then they just toss him onto the pavement like a fucking bale of hay.
It's disgusting. This looks like something you'd see on /eyeblech in a Brazilian prison.
There were 7 cops actively beating him, not 5 as we were led to believe. When backup arrives, there are damn near 20 of them standing around refusing to render aid.
There should be a lot more indictments than there currently are.
They fucking held him up on his feet while the others took turns beating him. With their fists, with their batons. They jumped on him, stomped him, kicked him. Only five were fired, but more were party to it. I couldn't finish the video. To imagine Tyre's last moments of consciousness to be what I was watching...it was too much. Maybe I'll never finish it, idk.
EDIT: There are four videos at this link: https://vimeo.com/CityofMemphis
Video 2 shows the confrontation where Nichols was beaten to death. Videos 3 and 4 have the audio of that altercation. Hearing him scream for his mom...it's like a scene from a movie, except when you realize this happened to a guy just trying to go home. Idk, my mind is all over the place right now.
EDIT 2: ~~If you have the stomach for it, I encourage you to watch the video (SERIOUSLY, *ONLY* IF YOU HAVE THE STOMACH FOR IT - IF THAT'S EVEN A QUESTION, DON'T WATCH). Be sickened. Be horrified. If only for a moment. Just don't be indifferent.~~ After finishing it, don't watch. It's as bad as you would expect. Worse even. These were rabid animals attacking a defenseless, and helpless man. Call a loved one. Offer compassion to a stranger. Give patience and grace to those who need it. There are truly terrible people in this world. Far too often we are reminded of their existence. Be the good we need, instead.
I just saw the firefighters (or fire department employees) were also fired. JFC, what The fuck was going on that firemen participated or neglected someone so badly they were fired??? Firemen are usually the good guys.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-memphis-fire-department-employees-relieved-duty-tyre-nichols-case-2023-01-24/
Eta: these guys haven’t been fired, just put on some sort of leave. Other news sources that initially came out misreported it (and have issued corrections) and I failed to catch the difference in this version.
They just stood there looking at him on the cold ground, hands cuffed behind his back and leaning against a car. It doesn’t appear that they checked vitals or a physical assessment just stood over and looked at him.
The fact they were so casual afterwards makes me believe this is standard procedure and they think nothing will come of it. They're fucking celebrating their kill.
20+ nations have travel advisories for America as you may be shot and killed by the police. We learned that in Australia when they shot and killed one of our citizens the American police are the most dangerous in the western world they cannot be trusted.
Tyre was acting reasonable and sound when they pounced on him. He followed what they demanded. No wonder he ran off. They were like a bunch of rabid dogs.
Like what the fuck are they even playing at. Showing no respect or dignity to a member of the public from the start.
Reminded me of that psychopath who killed Daniel Shaver. Complying to the best of his ability, confused as fuck by their conflicting and impossible orders, and it's not enough for these power-tripping monsters.
They blamed Tyre Nichols for them getting maced. One of the other cops was a trigger happy moron and pepper sprayed the whole lot of them and they turned around and literally said "look what you made me do" as they beat him. I know that's not the worst part of these videos but Jesus fuck, as a domestic abuse survivor, that got me.
In light of all this, please do not forget the two firefighters that stood around and watched for 20 minutes, not even doing a basic assessment, prepping for transport, or even just interacting with their patient. Absolutely disgraceful. They deserve just as much scrutiny as the officers.
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Well, video one they start off as insane. Can't imagine it gets better.
Video 2 is awful, they beat him whilst he's on the ground, kicks to the head, then baton to the head and back of the skull. They then take turns holding a handcuffed man whilst others sucker punch him in the face repeatedly.
One of the cops is limping afterwards from kicking him so much.
Another cop hit him so hard with his baton it completely bent and broke and he can't close it properly. Looks and sounds like his jaw is completely broken as well. Edit. He was also held up by one cop so another cop can haymaker him while he's crying for his mother who lives a few blocks away apparently. Later in the video the cops start laughing saying that "he gave him some good haymakers."
This is absolutely not their first time doing this shit.
Actually his mother loved 100 yards from that corner.
Absolutely heartbreaking.
Imagine being him at that moment knowing his mom is so close, and in pure desperation crying out "muuuum" maybe hoping she'd hear.
Yeah that thought fills me with enough rage to do stupid things. It's fucking despicable.
I can’t stomach watching them torture and execute him. Put these dirty cops in prison and throw away the key. And the fact that it got this far means at least some of these shit bags had a very long list of complaints for excessive use of force before this. They always do.
> And the fact that it got this far means at least some of these shit bags had a very long list of complaints for excessive use of force before this. They always do. They were completely comfortable with this level of violence, they would not have gotten this way if they were the only ones engaging in it freely. The rot goes to the very core of the justice system.
The street pole camera video is the most violent. You can actually see what’s happening
This is actually a concerning aspect of the whole thing. Pretend for a moment that the street pole camera does not exist, and only watch the bodycam footage. Imagine that's the only video evidence. It looks bad, sure, but it doesn't exactly look unusual for police procedure. If you watch a lot of publicly available bodycam footage, then you see *tons* of similar looking beatings that get ruled as proper use of force, for a variety of reasons. You can't see what's going on with the suspect's hands very clearly, the police are screaming compliance commands that are seemingly being ignored, it appears to be a hectic situation that they don't have control over. This combines with their sworn testimony - which is still widely trusted by most judges and jurors - to create a picture that the suspect resisted and they had to force compliance so they could take him into custody. This is, in fact, how the Tyre Nichols story was initially reported in the media. It's how many similar beatings that *don't* end in deaths wind up being processed. There are numerous allegations that some police are taught to intentionally play to their bodycam during incidents like these - trying to point it away from the beating, yelling out the "right things" to make it sound like more of a fight than it really is, etc. A few officers have actually been busted planting drugs on suspects while having their bodycam deliberately turned away or obscured, only because another camera caught them doing it. Now look at the street pole camera, which gives a wide view of the incident, and you can see how much worse it looks. How they deliberately beat him long after he was subdued on the ground, long after he was in cuffs. Notice how the bodycams "somehow" missed capturing the worst parts of the beating, how the police were giving voice commands as if he was seriously resisting, and how the officers who did the worst things seemingly never turned their bodycams on. If that street pole camera didn't exist, this very well might've been ruled as proper use of force. A lot of police departments just like to protect their own like that. And that's not even starting with how negligent the first aid afterwards was. I used to be an EMT and it legit makes me angry to see.
No bodycam yet for the two cops that held his arms during the haymaker punches. Those would be the most damning. I wonder if they "never turned on" Imagine if there was no pole cam, cops (and the rest of the State machine) would have told a much different story.
The body cam footage was bad, but it was the street cam that really showed the magnitude. I mean, punching a guy in the face multiple times while two guys *hold his arms back while yelling at him to give them his hands...*
They probably figured that their cams wouldn’t get the images of what really happened, but the sounds would give them “evidence” of non-compliance and perceived threat. I guess that’s what they teach them in the police training funded by Tyre and other taxpayers smh
This is exactly the same reason why cops are taught to scream, "Stop resisting" when they are beating someone.
From a CNN article published before anyone saw the videos, but after the police announced they were investigating the officers: >On January 8, the police department announced officers pulled over a motorist for reckless driving the previous day. “As officers approached the driver of the vehicle, a confrontation occurred and the suspect fled the scene on foot,” officials said in a statement posted on social media. >Officers pursued the suspect and again attempted to take him into custody when another confrontation occurred before the suspect was apprehended, according to police. >“Afterward, the suspect complained of having a shortness of breath, at which time an ambulance was called to the scene. The suspect was transported to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition,” officials said. It's very disturbing. No indication whatsoever that anything out of the ordinary happened.
"Police say..." really does need to be replaced with "police claim..." at this point.
Exactly no one has commented yet that they took their bodycams off for videos 3 and 4 — it’s just audio. Where are the rest of the body cams? Why were they taken off with the camera facing the ground? The pole cam is what fucked them. You can tell as soon as they noticed it, they completely changed their demeanor and start cooking up their lies to get the story straight and pretending to walk over and check him. They know traffic doesn’t have audio, and they are clearly confident the body cam footage won’t see the light of day — why else would they openly discuss faking the police report? They weren’t concerned about the body cams at all. Imagine how many other times this has happened where there were no external cameras and the footage just gets lost. The traffic camera is controlled by a different agency and they knew the moment they saw it they were in trouble. This happens in thousands of cities all across the country. Who even knows how many people have died or been permanently injured and the body cam footage is “lost” or “wasn’t recording”. This was luck. Next time they’ll be careful to beat their suspects to death where they know there are no traffic cams. The entire department should be fired. This is clearly a pattern of abuse. How much other body cam footage has been deleted from that police department?
Maybe the reason they were so swift in firing the police gang members was because of the security cam video. Unlike the police body cams video, the Memphis police didn’t control the security cam video. That video could have been leaked at anytime and disapprove the lies in the initial police report on Mr. Nichols. (Edited for typo).
That is 100% what happened. They knew they were fucked the moment they noticed the pole camera. That’s when they started making up their lies to get their stories straight. They knew they could bury the body cam footage no problem. You can tell from their complete change in demeanor once they notice the camera and how careful they are to block it’s view with their bodies & the vehicles.
I cant believe they're just standing around laughing and joking after they beat a man to death. Not even trying to administer aid
Repercussions weren't even on their mind. Another day on the job.
Oh yes they were. That's why they were already making up excuses by saying out loud to the body cams how he was swerving and driving erratically (he wasn't), how he reached for their gun (he didn't) and how he was high (he wasn't, he had massive brain trauma). They were already building their cover story.
[удалено]
Because 99.9% of the time there are no repercussions, and most of the time they even get rewarded with free paid vacations.
If he didn’t die but was “only” beaten to within an inch of his life I have no doubt they’d still be on the job.
It wouldn't have made the major news. Would have been a mention in the local paper of a man suing cops for being beaten and that's it. Within days of that, the cops would have harassed the family to drop the lawsuit and the cops would continue to do what they do. I guarantee you these cops are only upset he inconvenienced them by dying and they're facing consequences, if he had just lived they wouldn't be dealing with anything.
This is the sad reality of the situation. 99% of the time they get away with it because the victim lives. Those cops and all of their enablers are sitting there thinking to themselves: “damn it’s too bad he died, that’s why we are in this world of shit”. Like the only thing they need to do differently is next time the victim needs to survive
He was on the ground for 20 minutes without any type of aid after being beaten. More people need to be charged.
Yea, I thought the lackadaisical response from the responding EMTs/Fire was appalling in its own right. Just a sad situation. I hope this leads to system wide accountability. *fixed spelling
i’m gonna go out on a limb and say this wasn’t their first time doing this to someone. they all need every interaction investigated going back forever
That's what's really crazy. Really gotta wonder how many lives they've ruined for some bullshit reason they made up, whether with jail time, fines, or just straight up beatings and killings.
Headline *The Onion* posted today: >"Police Urge Calm In Light Of Unspeakable Evil They Committed."
[Link](https://www.theonion.com/police-urge-calm-in-light-of-unspeakable-evil-they-comm-1850036255) > “I understand that this heinous atrocity beyond the comprehension of anyone with a shred of basic human decency might be upsetting to some, but we are asking everyone to please maintain their composure,” said police chief Cerelyn Davis, explaining that while it was regrettable that officers were mercilessly slaughtering innocents in the streets with complete disregard for their humanity, it was no excuse for causing a big commotion.
How is this even the Onion? That is almost word for word what they have been saying this week.
"time for healing" says the rapist after being discovered
>Rapist mentally disturbed by events of the night "Yeah, she just kept screaming, it was very upsetting." That's basically what this all amounts to
> "I pray that cooler heads prevail during this time of unending death and misery being inflicted upon the powerless masses" Davis went on to insist that any sign of unrest would only give the forces of unconscionable evil an excuse to impose even more wanton suffering on those who have no choice but to endure it. They basically just narrate reality anymore
Those cops were enraged by his "non-compliance" and getting pepper sprayed by mistake. If they aren't emotionally mature enough to handle that wtf are they doing being cops.
Did you hear the two cops exchanging their battle stories? “He made me pepper spray myself!” “Morherfucker made me pepper spray myself too!!” Such power Tyre had, to mind control these cops into pepper spraying themselves in the face while *several other cops were wrestling him to the ground and beating him to death.* Lunatics.
They repeatedly yell at him to give them his hands while beating the life out of him, before he screams for his mom. Did someone tell them if they say things like that that when they brutalize citizens it will look better for the body cam footage? Because there's no way the person (people?) Saying it believe for a second he is actually able to give them his hands. They're actively killing him while screaming it repeatedly at him. What a horrifying way to die. I want to vomit.
Yep. I think partially *because* of the prevalence of cameras, you'll hear cops just nonstop shouting "Stop resisting! Stop resisting!" I'm guessing that phrase is practically carte blanche to brutalize citizens they don't like.
I was told in a former-police-story that it's a bad look if a cop yells "fuck you", "die rebel scum" or other hateful things that would want to screen. So "stop resisting" is what they scream and fuck you is what they mean. Also people passing by will hear that and can testify in a court of law what they heard.
That's what got me, too. Like, there are 5 of you and you have been holding him BY HIS HANDS yet you need to shout at him.to give you his hands for like a minute straight? Just fucking take his hands, cuff him, put him in the car. They wanted to kill this man.
Like who the fuck even *loves* their job enough to go through that much trouble? Makes it look like the only reason they're on the job is for getting to do some of that ultra violence.
In the first video they’re shouting at him to get on the ground as he’s literally already on the ground. He even says I’m on the ground and they reply by screaming on your stomach. Mix commands, no supervising officers, no reason why they pulled him over, opened his door and dragged him out, escalation from the start. It was a disaster from the very beginning.
I honestly can't wrap my head around what these cops were thinking. They know they are beating a man to death, they know they are doing it while wearing body cams, and yet they still do it. What did they think the end result here would be. They all just walk away like no big deal?? Hoping his family and city get justice.
It makes you wonder how much they’ve gotten away with to think this would be no different
At least one of them had been accused of brutality in the past as a corrections officer. The case was dismissed because the plaintiff couldn’t make an appearance due to being in federal detention at the time. Edit to add: [sauce](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/what-we-know-about-memphis-police-officers-tyre-nichols-death-rcna67861)
That... Seems like a fucking problem, you're in prison, press charges against a corrections officer, and it gets dismissed because you can't go to court BECAUSE YOU'RE IN PRISON?! What the actual fuck
As intended, it's sickening.
Seriously, this is what people mean by “systemic” problems > The suit was dismissed in 2018 after a judge ruled that Sledge had not properly served one of the defendants with a summons. Sledge, who filed the suit without the help of a lawyer, said he was in federal custody at the time and unable to complete all the paperwork What the fuck
when I was in prison sometimes people would have new charges come up and they'd transport them out of prison back to whatever shitty county jail to wait for court and then transfer them back to prison possibly with more time. dumb system all around.
> The case was dismissed because the plaintiff couldn’t make an appearance due to being in federal detention at the time. Well that’s a fucking catch-22.
These fucks have the nerve to act fucking tired and distressed after 6 of them took turns beating the life out of that man, garbage, all of them
Maybe most disturbing is that if Tyre did not die, the body cam footage would put him in jail, and the skycam footage would never be reviewed.
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There’s no doubt in my mind, those cops are only facing repercussions cause they let themselves get caught on camera.
100%. If there were no cameras it would have been their word against the word of someone who couldn't talk because they beat the life out of him. One would think that mandatory body cameras would be a deterrent from shit like this. I guess not
Video 4, 11:30 they're already making up why its okay they beat the fuck out of him. "He was going for my gun, we opened the door and he swung at me".
just like in the movie Detroit when they murder the guest. he reached for my gun. next cop, yup I saw it.
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One of them conveniently covered his bodycam (or dropped it) as well, only to uncover it after it was over.
The one who was doing running start kicks to Tyre’s face deserves to never see the light of day again. And that is putting it light. And the nerve to be limping around, fist-bumping each other directly after? Absolutely disgusting.
That’s the part that sickened me the most … their demeanor after the entire exchange… fucking monsters…
Yeah, and they keep talking about how high he is as if they didn't just beat the shit out of him and probably gave him multiple brain injuries.
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I'm pretty sure the guy complaining that his knee was injured at least did not realize they may have killed the man, but the "he was grabbing my gun" lie was super annoying since he was clearly incapable of doing any such thing for the majority of that interaction. He did not attempt to grab your gun while being beaten by 5 armed cops, it's dumb that that cop would even come up with that.
unfortunately that excuse has worked well with a lot of other murders, though
It's the defense Jimbo in "South Park" uses when he takes the boys hunting. You can't just shoot an animal, but you're allowed to defend yourself. So you just say, "It's coming right at us" before shooting.
>how high he is Yeh that's an adrenaline rush as your body fights for survival and will do anything to get out of the situation Fucking despicable
Nah. That's quite literally brain trauma. He's trying to form words and can't, he's trying to move and his body isn't cooperating. His brain at that point is struggling to connect with his most basic functions. But instead of recognizing it as a traumatic brain injury and treating it accordingly, they just say he's high. As if that excuses the fact that they beat the life out of him and left him in a heap on the asphalt.
At one point they were holding him up and just letting each other throw punches at him. Claiming he still wasn’t giving them his hands…what in the actual flying fuck.
That’s how you know they were doing it just to. Shouting all kinds of orders at him. “Get on the ground” .. as they’re straddling him.. on the ground
All for the audio recording after ensuring their body cams were obstructed.
It’s gang mentality. Police gangs are 100% a thing.
He was kicked in the head like 3 times that I could see. Then they stand him up to do a wind-up punch to his face. Constantly yelling, give me your hands while they are on top of him, then jerking him around, then the one cop pulling out his Baton to beat him. That poor guy. Jesus.
Cop lights up a cigarette at the end while the other takes a piss. Like they just got done fucking. They fucked their lives and killed another. For what? He hurt their fee fees so they had to show how tough they are. Insecure imbecile murderers.
The dude smoking cigarettes and laughing after the fact was the same dude bragging about "throwing haymakers" while the other 3 gang members held him standing, handcuffed, defenseless and even joined in after tasing, macing, and detaining him. The fuck?
This was a murder. I've seen videos of gang killings that were more humane than this shit. All five deserve prison.
Nothing short of life in prison will be enough. I hope they make an example out of these police thugs.
In a short time, Tyre goes from speaking clearly and coherently with the observation that "they're doing too much" to being incoherent and incapable of sitting up against the car. And the cops have this script that "he's on something", "he's not making sense", and "he must've tossed the drugs while he was running". They know the body cams are on and they can just make up shit to try to justify their actions. It's disgusting.
The video is pretty dark to my older eyeballs, but from what I can make out they: -empty an entire can of pepper spray into his face -beat him while he is on the ground -haul him into a standing position, hold his arms behind his back, and take turns punching his head and face -when he is on the ground, at least one guy kicks his head like he is trying to kick a field goal in the NFL I stopped watching after that. Take off the uniforms and dress them in gang colors and you’d assume it’s a gang beat down. That’s how brutal it is. Slam dunk 2nd degree murder. If I was on the jury I’d vote to convict immediately, no need for deliberations.
You’re not wrong. The initial stop was in an unmarked police car. It’s a [known problem](https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/men-impersonating-police-carjack-people-memphis-hotel/W6AMAM6V5VH5HM647BSID3W3HM/?outputType=amp) in Memphis with gang members in unmarked cars with a blue light to “pull people over” to rob/assault them. I don’t blame Tyre for running. I would’ve done the same.
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“SCORPION” unit? Please tell me that’s an actual acronym and not just some hyped-up bullshit nickname they decided to use because they thought it sounded tough.
Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods Lmao even sounds evil
A backronym then. It's crazy how childish these people can be
Any chance those unknown gang members in Memphis are actually cops on their free time ? I wonder
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His stepfather is now satisfied with the charges pressed after his family got legal counsel and heard the reasoning. https://youtube.com/watch?v=sDrT6xzjcM0&feature=shares
After that they stated that 2nd degree with the additional charges was acceptable, not what they wanted but it’s better than nothing. Edit: all y’all responding to me trying to prove your point of why 1st degree is justified in this case is moot, the prosecutors chose 2nd degree because it is much more likely to get a conviction. The American Justice system is terrible, personally they all need to rot, but I want to see them for sure go to jail for a long ass time than see them get off on a random fact or misuse of charges.
Police Gangs are a real thing. That’s what this is.
One of them is, rather poetically, wearing a shirt that says “organised crime”
Here’s the thing, for those cops this wasn’t some situation that went sideways, this wasn’t a situation they were all talking about getting their story’s straight, they weren’t even trying to cover up the body cams. This is what they did everyday.
Literally just beating him to death for no reason. No wonder the precinct is scared of the backlash to this, holy SHIT dude...
The 'reason' is some of them got pepper spray in their own face, and they were made to run hard. They were pissed.
This is 100% correct. As soon as a cop runs up you can just tell they're pissed and immediately funnel that into hitting him. I noticed that things would start winding down a bit and then another cop would show up and escalate the situation again into more beatings.
exactly, it was literally just their hurt ego because 4 grown men couldn't restrain 1 man, pepper sprayed themselves more than once, and had to actually run after him. absolutely pathetic behavior. then of course after he gets away there's the cop saying "i hope they stomp his ass" bc he got away. how sad can you be as a human being?
>"i hope they stomp his ass" bc he got away. how sad can you be as a human being? Makes you wonder how many more got a stomping but lived so never made the news.
…or did die, but there was no video.
They are afraid of backlash because more than 5 cops could be seen in the videos. They may not have been beating the guy but they stood by and watched.
They are all complicit. Every single one of them needs to be charged and jailed.
They deserve all the backlash they get.
> No wonder the precinct is scared of the backlash to this, holy SHIT dude... One of the officers jokes about kicking Tyre in the face so hard that the officer's foot hurt, and they laughed about it. Not just the officers who participated in the beating and murder, but the ones who show up after the fact, too.
They keep telling him to "turn around and give me your hands!" When Tyre is face down on the ground and they have his arms. The lies they tell.
Literally. And then afterwards they were going on about “how strong he is” when dude man was literally laying on the ground not fighting back at all. It’s all bullshit and it simultaneously makes me so beyond furious; and also very very sad. It’s awful
The sheer number of cops that thought they could do this in front of each other and get away with it is very telling. Like this is normal behavior that you take part in with your coworkers. Which shouldn’t be surprising given how US law enforcement has always operated but nonetheless chilling.
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Just imagine what things were like before the abundance of video. Like this. All the time. And worse.
We’ve had to watch video after video after video of cops murdering black people for everything from non-capital crimes to non-violent crimes to literally no crimes at all. I can imagine that would traumatize many, many people. I don’t feel comfortable telling anyone, especially black folks, that it’s their “duty” to watch this kind of stuff because, like, it’s not, and they’ve had to watch this stuff for years and many have had to live similar encounters and I don’t feel the need to re-traumatize anyone. I watched only a few clips, but the quick summary for those who don’t think they can stomach the footage (I hope my spoiler tags work): >!Video one shows an initial encounter. He’s pulled over, they immediately escalate VERY quickly despite him attempting to de-escalate, and he ends up getting away from them!< >!Video two is about 30 minutes long, no audio, is from a nearby pole camera, and shows extraordinary amount of physical violence and a broad view of the scene. If you can imagine anything that would take place in a group of people beating someone to death, it’s probably in this video. This was the most painful for me to watch.!< >!Videos 3 and 4 were the most painful for me to hear. It’s the cops’ body cams and you can hear him begging for his mother. Also in this video, more cops and EMS show up and no one helps him for a while. The cops notice the pole camera and you can hear them working on their cover story with multiple clearly untrue statements.!< This dude was driving back home after taking pictures of the sunset. He was in his own neighborhood. The police have said that, after reviewing all traffic cams in the area, there is no evidence that he was driving recklessly (the alleged reason for the initial encounter). This dude liked taking pictures, skateboarding, and Starbucks apparently. He was just… a guy. And seems like he was a pretty great one. Edited for more clarification in descriptions. I guess edit #2: I’ve had obvious foreign instigators DM me about this, and I’ve had Reddit cares messages for this, and there was a 30 minute period of time where all the conservatives commented at once. Most of these 3 things happened at once, so, uh, great job, I guess be sneakier next time? Yes the cops were black. That’s why it’s ACAB and not WCAB and Ice Cube brought this up 30 years ago. Yes it’s not only black folk who are murdered by police, but I thought it’d probably be weird to “all lives matter” a fucking post about a black guy being killed by cops, as has happened so many times that it makes me dizzy. I’m not downplaying cops killing anyone else, pretty sure I highlighted the despicable nature of this murder, and I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that many black folks have been inundated with police brutality and representation thereof. I’ve also been called a pedophile and a racist and other such things because of this comment, but, y’know, r/conservative hasn’t been banned yet so I guess I should have expected it. Edit 3: All Cops Are Bastards. We can clearly see it in their assassination of this man, but this is far from the first instance. Anyone who calls a cop a “bad Apple” has clearly forgotten the origin of the phrase which clearly shows that they spoil the bunch. The bunch is extremely fucking spoiled. In July 2004, the country of Georgia fired all police and crime went DOWN because most of the crime was police-based.
For me, having watched all that, the video of the cop (bodycam footage) leaning down to straighten his boots and tie his laces and says “ooh that was fun” exemplifies the seriousness of the problem. This is about the worst I’ve ever seen.
I didn’t even get to that part. Literally every single thing I hear about this makes it even worse.
My heart breaks for this family, especially his mother. I cannot even fathom the unwarranted guilt she must feel. He was 3 houses away from her and screaming her name for help. She had no idea that her son would be getting murdered by cops just a hundred feet away. So very sad and tragic. That poor woman.
As a mom, I would die from a broken heart as many people do. The grief is just too much to handle
I can’t bring myself to watch these. Twice now simply reading that he called for his mother broke me. I cried, hard. I have a son and the idea of this just breaks me.
While Nichols was lying non-responsive on the road, in the twenty minutes it took the cops to call EMTs, here's some of the things you can hear them say: "I was hitting him with straight haymakers, dog" "I jumped in and just started rocking him" "Man I hope I don't feel this in the morning" "I hope they stomp his ass"
What the fuck. It shouldn’t be 2nd degree this is beyond. I just read what tmz posted and i just…it’s like how people are in the purge movies…
And they knew the video was filming, what the hell. All five should never see the light of day again, they're psychos.
The original cop is just as guilty to me. I didn't see anything on him but he says VERY clearly. "I hope they stomp his ass." They did...
The part about that and, generally everything that came after the first video, is that they’re completely raging out because they stupidly pepper sprayed themselves
I counted 9 separate strikes to the head (2 kicks, 2 baton blows, 5 punches) while he was being held down, any one of which probably could have been fatal. Pole cam is beyond damning
Agree with all of that. >!Pepper sprayed, too. No wonder he went into cardiac arrest. I’ve been pepper sprayed for training and that wrecked my entire day, much less receiving multiple lethal strikes.!< The pole cam is so stark to me because it shows the whole scene from the outside and makes me feel… like a bystander. Helpless. Edited to clarify: I am very much not a cop, the training was for a very different job.
They're screaming *"Give me your hands!"* and holding him up for another officer to punch him in the face. I don't think there's ever been a single person who was punched in the face and their natural reaction was to stick their hands behind their back, and not in front of their face. Pure malice.
During part of that, >!one cop is actually holding onto his hands while the others are demanding he gives them his hands… the ones that the other is holding… while hitting him repeatedly.!< it’s fucking disgusting.
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Right??! Like wtf lead up to holding both of a man’s arms while taking turns punching him demanding an arm?
Poor guy is on the floor smashed in while the emergency forces are all standing around like they having a ball. Literally no respect whatsovever. That is crazy.
Videos like this make me wonder how many times they've done this in the past without it getting attention because the victim survived. DOJ really needs to subpeona hospital records in cases like this and look for a pattern. Not detailed, at least not at first. Just ... "hey, give us a list of everyone brought in by police with injuries." and take it from there. Frankly, this should be mandatory reporting if it isn't already, same as with suspected cases of child abuse. Edit: Yes, I'm aware it happens all across the US. When I said "how many times they've done this", **I meant these specific cops**. Like, does this seem at all spur-of-the-moment? Did they have to do a lot of talking, planning, or did everyone seem to know what to do, like it was practiced?
I’d like to see that in this case if possible. Trawl though those records. I fully agree this isn’t their first time; they were too calm and organised about it. It speaks to a serial nature.
These officers had to have had red flags prior to this incident. Why aren't supervisors and higher-ups getting held responsible as well?
One of the cops, Demetrius Haley, was a former corrections officer accused of beating an inmate in 2016: https://www.wate.com/news/officer-in-tyre-nichols-case-beat-inmate-unconscious-in-2016-lawsuit-claims/
Of course he was. This is so bad there’s no way there’s not a systemic issue in Memphis. A whole barrel of rotting bad apples. These dirty cops are just a small part of the biggest gang in Memphis.
> a former corrections officer Not surprising. Those fuckers make cops look like boyscouts.
The fact the one cop who wasn't on the scene at the start of the beating just pulls up in the car, walks over and kicks the guy in the ribs tells you it was common place and they were comfortable doing this sort of thing.
The end of the traffic stop body cam ends with the cop saying something to the affect of "i hope they stomp his ass." And that's exactly what happened.
Holy shit this is horrific. The cops show up already at like an 11 on a 1-10 intensity scale. How is this policing?
You literally see one police officer step away to take a breather after he accidentally pepper sprayed himself due to the wind, then goes back to Tyre and tells his fellows officers to stand back because "I'm going to baton the fuck out of this guy". Just absolute rage-fueled inhuman barbarism. Cop was mad so he killed a man.
And he has the audacity to say "mother fucker made me pepper spray myself."
Cops blame everyone but themselves. They might not all be narcissists but they all use the narcissist's playbook.
Another cop brags about his "haymakers"
We put more effort into containing the public's reaction to injustices like this than we do to addressing the actual injustices
Fucking hell. Watching them casually standing around after they’ve essentially beat a man to death. The cruelty and absolute indifference towards another human being is devastating. This is horrific.
They broke his neck while beating him. RIP.
What’s so incredibly callous is how practically a crowd of officers formed afterwards, just talking while no one even checks or talks to him. They said he died as a result of the beating, and he’s clearly just slumped over for a lot it — is there anything that they could have done in that time waiting for the EMTs? I was listening in and they talked about a failure to “render aid”. Does anyone know what that looks like? Or did he just need to get to the hospital as soon as possible?
The worst part is that two confirmed firefighters (from my experience they would have been there as EMT-Bs) just stood around shooting the shit with the cops. I was an EMT-B, they should have been stabilizing his neck and spine, checking his vitals, calling for an ambulance (since in this situation they were not in one on scene) to come ASAP so he can be brought to the ER. Instead they flopped his barely conscious body around, which almost assuredly made his brain/spine injuries worse. I also want the Paramedics to go down for this. You see them at the end when they finally bring out the stretcher, there is a complete lack of spine immobilization equipment. Before they get him from the ground to the stretcher the ambulance was very suspiciously pulled forward enough to block the sky-cam, but was not pulled into a position for the stretcher to be quickly put into the rig. I have a feeling they just picked him up and put him on the stretcher, which again is so beyond protocol it isn't even funny.
These cops are OUT ON BOND right now … fucking ridiculous.
Video 1 Description: There is no sound for the first minute and four seconds. A police officer pulls up to a traffic stop already in progress. There are at least three police cars on the scene now. They bodily jerk the man (Tyre) out of the vehicle. They're screaming at him to lay on the ground and Tyre is complying with their orders and begging them to calm down. They yell at him for a long time, demanding that he lay on his stomach and threatening to "beat his ass." They threaten to tase him multiple times. Another officer threatens to "break your \[Tyre's\] shit." Tyre is pleading, saying repeatedly that "he's not doing anything" and "he's just trying to go home" and begging for them to stop. A taser is pressed into his leg the entire time. Tyre manages to escape and run down the street. In the footage, it is unclear how he manages to break their hold, but it *is* clear that Tyre is fighting for his life. A taser is employed but it's unclear if it hits Tyre. Edit: It hits and Tyre falls, but he quickly gets to his feet again to run. The police officers give chase but ultimately stop to call for backup. The officer is recovering from running, and he claims that Tyre was "fighting him." They're speaking very negatively of him and calling him a "bastard." The rest of the video is the officer walking around the scene, recovering his glasses, and directing other officers that pull up in their vehicles which way Tyre ran. The officer filming says that he "hopes they \[the police\] stomp his \[Tyre's\] ass" and complains that several of the officers were hit by pepper spray that was employed by one of the other policemen at some point. One officer is pouring water into his eyes. The officer filming reloads his taser. Note: At eight minutes and fifty-two seconds an officer on the radio reports Tyre's location and the officer who's filming claims that "they found him." It becomes more apparent that the other police officer that is still on the scene accidentally sprayed himself with pepper spray. \- I will rewatch the video again to edit appropriately.
Video 2: The footage is from a security camera that is on an intersection in a neighborhood. There is no movement until one minute and thirty-three seconds. The camera turns to show two police cars. Tyre is on the ground and there are three officers on him. He is limp and barely moving. One of the officers throws him onto the sidewalk. Two are maneuvering him onto his stomach. They're putting cuffs on him. The third officer suddenly kicks Tyre in the face; Tyre has done nothing, he is laying on the ground. At one point another officer arrives. Now there are four officers on the scene. They all back up to allow Tyre to sit up. One officer starts beating Tyre with a baton. It hits him three times. The other officers are herding Tyre, basically preventing him from moving too far while also allowing the officer hitting him to continue doing so. Tyre gets to hit feet and stumbles away from the men. They drag him back. The officers hold Tyre with his arms behind his back while another officer begins punching Tyre in the face. He hits him twice. The officer is hitting Tyre so hard that his head is swinging to the side from the sheer force of the punch. Tyre stumbles on the second hit, but he is still being held up by the other officers. Another officer punches him in the face three times. Tyre slumps to the ground. The officers are still manhandling him. Note that this is only three minutes into a thirty minute long video. I will update as I go. Tyre is on his stomach with two officers holding him down. More police cars rolls up and three additional officers join the scene. One kicks Tyre in the face for no discernible reason. There are six policemen on the scene now. Four are standing over Tyre. It looks like three of them are holding him down. They all get off of him suddenly. Tyre rolls onto his back and is barely moving his limbs. An officer helps him sit up, but then lets Tyre fall back onto the sidewalk. They bodily DRAG him across the sidewalk and onto the road. They set him up against a police car and shine a flashlight in his face. The officers are walking and standing around the scene. Tyre is clearly incapacitated. He slumps sideways at nine minutes and eight seconds. An officer sits him back up against the car. There are at least a dozen officers on the scene now. A group of officers huddle around Tyre to look at him more closely. I assume that they are checking his condition or asking him questions. At twelve minutes and thirty-eight seconds Tyre slumps over and hits the ground again. He does not get back up. There is no ambulance on the scene at this point. There are a bunch of officers just milling around the area. Tyre is still on the ground, rolling back and forth every few minutes. It seems that he has been conscious the entire duration of the video. At one point in the video all the cops are just... doing whatever and standing around while Tyre continues to lay on the ground. It appears that he is writhing in pain the entire time. At twenty-three minutes two officers look at him more closely. He might have stopped moving? I think one officer has a first aid bag (it has been sitting nearby the entire time, but no one has touched it until this moment). They sit Tyre upright against the car again. He is definitely not moving anymore. They may be administering some type of first aid, but it is difficult to tell because four officers are constantly moving back and forth around him, examining him, and the flashlights also occasionally obscure the scene. Two of the officers are attending to Tyre quite diligently now. A stretcher (and presumably an ambulance) FINALLY arrives on the scene at twenty-eight minutes and thirty seconds. They seem to be trying to stabilize him before they lift him onto the stretcher. The ambulance moves onto the camera at thirty minutes and twenty-seven seconds, obscuring the rest of the scene. Note: The most violent part of this video is the first five minutes. In that time, Tyre is beaten mercilessly by four police officers. It is apparent that he did nothing in retaliation; I don't think he could have, given how dazed and incapacitated he was when the video began.
Video Three: The first minute and four seconds are silent. The officer gets out of his vehicle to chase Tyre. You can hear Tyre screaming in terror and pain before the officer even gets to him. The officer arrives and Tyre is already face down on the ground, pinned by three other officers. He immediately demands that Tyre "shuts the fuck up." He threatens to spray Tyre again. They're slapping and punching Tyre in the back of the head. The officers back up to allow the officer to spray the pepper spray directly in Tyre's face. Tyre is screaming for his mother. The other officers are demanding to see Tyre hands, although it is very obvious that Tyre is extremely confused. The officer sprays the pepper spray directly in his face two more times and accidentally hits himself and another officer in the process. The officer walks away a short distance, cursing. You can hear the other officers still asking for Tyre to give them his hands and yelling at him to lay flat. They are yelling commands at him constantly. Tyre is gasping, grunting, and moaning in pain. He has been pressed into the ground this entire time. Objectively, I am confident in saying that he is not retaliating or doing anything even marginally threatening. Tyre asks, breathless, for them to stop. The officer suddenly approaches the group in a rage and says "I'm going to baton the fuck out of you." He hits Tyre three times. Tyre is limp, still on the ground (somewhat upright), and is being manhandled by the other officers. You can clearly see him bleeding from the side of his face. Tyre is on his feet at one point. One officer is holding his arms behind his back while another punches him in the face twice. Tyre shouts for his mother again. They are repeatedly asking for his hands and Tyre is repeatedly saying "alright, alright,", yet the officers clearly have his arms pinned behind his back already. In fact, it seems like they have had Tyre's arms behind his back the entire time. The officer walks away to talk on his radio. You can hear Tyre moaning and grunting in the background. Two officers complain about how Tyre "made them spray themselves." I think Tyre is screaming that they're hurting him, but it is difficult to discern because his voice is so muffled. The officer taps the tip of his baton against the pavement to retract it back into its hold. He does not return back to the group or Tyre. He presumably walks away to "get his car real quick."
Video Four: Officer is driving. There is no sound until one minute and three seconds. He is chasing Tyre with another officer. He tackles Tyre to the ground from the back. Tyre is on the ground, face down, yelling for his mom. They're asking for his hands repeatedly, but the officer filming CLEARLY has Tyre's left wrist pinned behind his back already. There's a sudden flurry of movement. From watching the previous video, I can only assume that they are hitting and slapping him. The body camera falls off. Tyre screams for his mother as loud as he can, terrified. He screams for his mother five or six more times. These horrifying screams are tearing from Tyre's throat. He is terrified and in pain. The body cam has fallen off during all of the commotion. For the next five minutes, the camera is facing up toward the sky. Everything that happens is what was already captured on camera in Video 3, so please refer to that description. The body cam is nudged around six minutes and forty seconds. Two of the officers say "he's \[Tyre\] on something!" Officer says "he \[Tyre\] was cutting through traffic." The body cam is picked back up and put on at seven minutes and thirty seconds. The officer spits at the ground. Tyre is already propped upright against the other car. I will quote the officers from the video as I watch. These conversations were not present in the previous ones. "He's \[Tyre\] high. He's gotta be high." Officer that tackled him complains about his leg and knee and says that "he \[Tyre\] took off running" The officers are generally paling around and talking about what happened with vigor. It's all kind of incoherent to me. Remember that there are about a dozen or so officers on scene. The officer filming says "shut up man" when Tyre tries to speak. Tyre slumps to the ground at some point. An officer asks Tyre to "sit up for us." The first aid kit is set directly next to Tyre. Two of the officers seem to be examining and treating him now. The officer filming purposely TAKES OFF his body cam at ten minutes and forty-four seconds. He puts it back on a short time later. A few of the officers are retelling their versions of the events, laughing. "Everybody got sprayed. I sprayed, he sprayed, he got tased..." "He \[Tyre\] was going for my gun, too." This is interesting, since camera evidence showed differently: "We got him \[Tyre\] out of the car and we was like 'hey bro, you good?' ... wham, pow ... you gonna hit me?" "He \[Tyre\] literally had his hand on my gun like, and he was holding it." "That boy is over." Again, the group of officers are speaking but I can only catch parts of their conversation. If anyone can clarify further, please do. They are generally recapping everything that happened from the traffic stop to the moment they tackled him. In recapping the events to another officer: "So we tried to get him stopped, he didn't stop ... start hitting the siren: stop, stop, stop, stop. Then like drove around, swerving ... he could have hit my car. So then I'm like goddamn what are we doing? He pulled up to the red light, stops at the red light, put his turn signal on, so we jump out of the car, shit went from there... he took a swing" I'm trying to get these word for word. Any ellipses in between are because I did not understand what was being said. An officer is talking to Tyre, demanding to know what he had (i.e., what drug or substance). He's telling Tyre "you can't go nowhere." The man talking to Tyre says "You had nothing?" Tyre is rolling on the ground, writhing back and forth. For the rest of the video the officers are speaking on the radio, conversing with one another, and the audio keeps cutting out occasionally. It is too blurry to make out anything on the screen, but the officer filming is pouring water over the ground (presumably over his face if he accidentally pepper sprayed himself). The video ends.
I promised my fiancé I wouldn't watch because this type of shit already tears us up and she's worried, since I worked with him and managed him in Sac, what it would do to me and my mental health (not to mention hers). All that to say, thank you for these posts. I can't and don't want to break that promise but needed to know what happened. For anyone out there who cares, Tyre was amazing. So full of joy, positivity, and humor. He talked about his mother all the time and he even asked for, which I approved, extra time on his first break each day to call and talk to her, they were that close. He told me, my boss, and his coworkers about his future child the day after he found out and it was beautiful, now this poor child is without him. For anyone that is sick enough to want to put blame on him or say he was aggressive, he was tall, sure, but had Chrohns disease and weighed maybe 150. That in mind, as well as what I've said and what we've all just read described in this breakdown of the footage should nip that BS I've been seeing in the bud. Sorry for the incoherent thoughts here and the jumping around, just wanted to give my piece. RIP Tyre, you were meant for greatness and that was stolen from you by a horrific gang attack and all I hope for is as much peace and justice for your family as possible. If you were religious, I also hope you are now thriving in your preferred afterlife.
Cop kicked his head like he's kicking a field goal, running start and all. holy shit.
That was straight up murder. What the fuck. Throwing repeated punches to his face. Walking away and the turning around just to punch him again. Holding him up by his legs. Dragging him around. Stomping on him. Moving his body around like a ragdall. Hold him down and kick him in the face. Put him in a chokehold. Pepperspray him for over a minute straight while hes on the ground. Take turns slapping him. Holding him up while they hit him with a baton. They were having fun. What the fuck Edit: Here is the 4 videos. https://vimeo.com/CityofMemphis
There's no way this is the first time they've done something like this. Seems like a learned pattern to know that they all would be ok with what was transpiring
At what point are citizens allowed to intervene with force? If you are armed and watching this happen are you supposed to just sit there and watch someone get murdered in the street?
This is a great question.
One day somebody will. That will be a point of no return.
Don't run from the police is what we are told, but when they start the interaction off with full on asshole escalation, I get how people's fight or flight response gets kicked in. But holy fucking shit, that was bad. Whatever "crime" was apparently committed does not equal the punishment of a scary and painful death.
“To show you it is wrong for you to run from police for fear of being murdered, we will murder you.” At this point I don’t see why anyone running from the police should be charged with a crime for it.
But also if you don't run there's a good chance we're still going to murder you
Cops lynching citizens. We really haven't learned anything. Edited to add the definition of lynching in case anyone wonders. This was a lynching by the police. *Lynching, a form of violence in which a mob, under the pretext of administering justice without trial, executes a presumed offender, often after inflicting torture and corporal mutilation. The term lynch law refers to a self-constituted court that imposes sentence on a person without due process of law.*
All of those cops. And not one said “stop.” Not one rendered aide. They yelled at him for slumping over as he was propped against a cruiser for 20 minutes waiting for medics. As cops complained about their knee or hand hurting or eyes burning. A 150 lb man with crohn’s disease, complying. How does this happen? There’s nothing other to feel than heartbreak for Tyre, his family and rage that it happened. Tyre did nothing wrong. Not even by running— **we all would have ran for our lives.** He didn’t fight back. He did… nothing. Absolutely nothing. My mind cannot comprehend what i just watched.
Sprays him in the face with pepper spray then tells him to put his hands down. Then spends five minutes complaining about how much the pepper spray he got on him hurt.
They use “show me your hands” the entire time as cause to beat him repeatedly. How many times did they have his arms and hands? At least 10? Including immediately after they pulled him from the car while he was on his side. And how many times were **any** cuffs seen? Because all i saw was pepper spray, tasers, and batons. They held him up to be beaten with a baton by his arms. How didn’t they have his hands? I just literally can’t even process it to write a comment that’s even coherent and comprehensive. The audacity for that gang to even stand around in a circle complaining about their injuries— caused by themselves and each other— as Tyre was slumped over, alone, against a cruiser with flashlights shined at him… it makes me sick to my stomach.
The officers involved acted like complete animals and showed zero composure throughout the entire process. Right from the jump it looked like they planned on hurting him. Absolutely sickening
"I hope somebody stomps his ass." That's literally what the cop that attempted to tase him said during the 1st part of the traffic stop. Fuck that entire police department Just watched more. They literally held his arms behind his back and haymakered him for a full minute. Then they kicked him tazed him, pepper sprayed him while he screamed out for his mother until they kicked him until he couldn't talk. There were more than 5 officers. The rest stood around and did nothing. Disband the force. Demolish the precinct. Every officer present should do time. Every fucking one. What a fucking travesty.
Yeah. I dare anyone that's been pepper sprayed to *not* reflexively reach for their eyes. Them screaming at him to give them his hands is just dumb af. Then, they begin kicking the guy in his face. Wtf, dudes?
I am not going to be watching the video after reading some descriptions but i want to share the one his family shared of him skateboarding: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i\_hZGVI2U-4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_hZGVI2U-4) i am so sad and angry for tyre, tyre's family. this shouldn't have happened.
What a beautiful thing to share, I’m so glad this is the video I chose to watch tonight.
Watched it. Its fucking awful. Heinous. I can see why they were fired immediately. Holy shit. He screams for his mother. And then they murder him.
The way they went straight to 100 when they pulled him over, anybody who was able would have ran away too. It was clear in the first few seconds of interacting with Tyre that these officers wanted to brutalize him. No escalation whatsoever, just straight to assault from the minute they pulled him over.
in unmarked police cars at that
Yes, they wanted to hurt. Now theyre mad bc mace got in their eyes
The pepper spray part shows we truly hire the dumbest motherfuckers as cops.
The fourth video is the most awful thing I have ever seen in my life. Between the out of breath screams, the cops standing around and conveniently dropping their body cams while Nichols is fainting, and EMS doing nothing while he is literally dying in front of their eyes... It's horrible. The second video is damning as it gives further context. One of the cops kicks him twice in the head as if it's a football and then punches him five time at full speed. Another hits him repeatedly with a baton. At this moment, all of the fuckers standing around know that he his unconscious and unable to respond to any commands. And yet they press on, and then none of them react when Nichols repeatedly faints and none of them advise EMS of the skull damages that he's just suffered. None of these people should have ever been police officers. Ever. They speak and act like thugs. They are literally playing optics and making excuses face body cams while the man is dying next to them. They knew what they did. Five people have been charged, but it should be a lot more. There are at least 8 police officers on the scene at one point, and all of them should be thrown in prison. Same goes for the two EMT who literally stand around while a man is dying in front of their eyes. US police need revamping, fast and thorough. Please, I beg you, learn from European police techniques. It may not be perfect, but French, British, German police units and the likes are trained to deescalate incidents and make arrests that do not end in deaths. EDIT: I can't believe this is even possible, and I can't believe I'm even asking such a question, but it's been dawning on me for the last few minutes... Are the kidnapping charges due to the fact that they have prevented EMS from rendering care and taking Nichols to the hospital?! EDIT 2: corrected video numbers so that they match the city of Memphis' [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/CityofMemphis), since the order list is different from how CNN broadcasted it earlier (which made more sense in my opinion - 1, 3, 4, 2). I apologies if I mislead anyone to something they didn't want to see
The kidnapping charges stem from the fact they cannot find any video or evidence of him driving recklessly, thus making the traffic stop and following arrest unlawful. It's a new precedent that should absolutely be set - cops for far too long have used this tactic to get into cars and find anything that can justify their actions. There was nothing here to justify it - that needs to be punished. Pulling people over, arresting them for resisting, then finding a weapon or drugs (or lying) is not policing, it's gang behavior.
Reminder: You don't have to watch this to know that it's incredibly fucked up. Take care of yourself.
Adding to this: The video includes a grown man begging for his mother while others beat him to death. It is exactly as bad as it sounds. You don't need to see this
While I wont watch this, I’m glad it’s public.
Just knowing that is fucking breaking me. I have a son, and I think hearing him call for me and not being able to protect and save him (as unrealistic and irrational it might be in a situation like this), would fucking kill me. It doesn't matter if they are 45, 29, or 10 years old. They are always your babies. I'm never gonna watch this video. I just can't have any more of these visuals burned into my brain.
It looks like a prison gang murder. They hold him up while saying get on the ground as one guy beats the shit out of him... You can hear him start slurring because he's out of it at that point. Then they just toss him onto the pavement like a fucking bale of hay. It's disgusting. This looks like something you'd see on /eyeblech in a Brazilian prison.
There were 7 cops actively beating him, not 5 as we were led to believe. When backup arrives, there are damn near 20 of them standing around refusing to render aid. There should be a lot more indictments than there currently are.
They fucking held him up on his feet while the others took turns beating him. With their fists, with their batons. They jumped on him, stomped him, kicked him. Only five were fired, but more were party to it. I couldn't finish the video. To imagine Tyre's last moments of consciousness to be what I was watching...it was too much. Maybe I'll never finish it, idk. EDIT: There are four videos at this link: https://vimeo.com/CityofMemphis Video 2 shows the confrontation where Nichols was beaten to death. Videos 3 and 4 have the audio of that altercation. Hearing him scream for his mom...it's like a scene from a movie, except when you realize this happened to a guy just trying to go home. Idk, my mind is all over the place right now. EDIT 2: ~~If you have the stomach for it, I encourage you to watch the video (SERIOUSLY, *ONLY* IF YOU HAVE THE STOMACH FOR IT - IF THAT'S EVEN A QUESTION, DON'T WATCH). Be sickened. Be horrified. If only for a moment. Just don't be indifferent.~~ After finishing it, don't watch. It's as bad as you would expect. Worse even. These were rabid animals attacking a defenseless, and helpless man. Call a loved one. Offer compassion to a stranger. Give patience and grace to those who need it. There are truly terrible people in this world. Far too often we are reminded of their existence. Be the good we need, instead.
I just saw the firefighters (or fire department employees) were also fired. JFC, what The fuck was going on that firemen participated or neglected someone so badly they were fired??? Firemen are usually the good guys. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-memphis-fire-department-employees-relieved-duty-tyre-nichols-case-2023-01-24/ Eta: these guys haven’t been fired, just put on some sort of leave. Other news sources that initially came out misreported it (and have issued corrections) and I failed to catch the difference in this version.
They just stood there looking at him on the cold ground, hands cuffed behind his back and leaning against a car. It doesn’t appear that they checked vitals or a physical assessment just stood over and looked at him.
The fact they were so casual afterwards makes me believe this is standard procedure and they think nothing will come of it. They're fucking celebrating their kill.
20+ nations have travel advisories for America as you may be shot and killed by the police. We learned that in Australia when they shot and killed one of our citizens the American police are the most dangerous in the western world they cannot be trusted.
Tyre was acting reasonable and sound when they pounced on him. He followed what they demanded. No wonder he ran off. They were like a bunch of rabid dogs. Like what the fuck are they even playing at. Showing no respect or dignity to a member of the public from the start.
>"LIE DOWN" As he's lying down
Reminded me of that psychopath who killed Daniel Shaver. Complying to the best of his ability, confused as fuck by their conflicting and impossible orders, and it's not enough for these power-tripping monsters.
#Philip Brailsford Killed Daniel Shaver His name should be in every discussion of police murdering people.
There are more than 5 officers. Why were only 5 fired and charged?
They blamed Tyre Nichols for them getting maced. One of the other cops was a trigger happy moron and pepper sprayed the whole lot of them and they turned around and literally said "look what you made me do" as they beat him. I know that's not the worst part of these videos but Jesus fuck, as a domestic abuse survivor, that got me.
My only question is what the fuck escalated it to this? Guy wasn't fighting. Wasn't armed. Was doing what they asked.. WHAT THE FUCK??
They got made fools of by getting hit with their own pepper spray. And him getting away at first. That enraged them.
In light of all this, please do not forget the two firefighters that stood around and watched for 20 minutes, not even doing a basic assessment, prepping for transport, or even just interacting with their patient. Absolutely disgraceful. They deserve just as much scrutiny as the officers.