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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, “’I’m just trying to go home.”
You can see the rest of the video here.
The video is filled with violent moments showing the officers, who are also Black, chasing and pummeling Nichols and leaving him on the pavement propped against a squad car as they fist-bumped and celebrated their actions.
The footage emerged one day after the officers were charged with murder in Nichols’ death. The chilling images of another Black man dying at the hands of police renewed tough questions about how fatal encounters with law enforcement continue even after repeated calls for change.
The recording shows police savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes while screaming profanities at him throughout the attack. The Nichols family legal team has likened the assault to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.
After the first officer roughly pulls Nichols out of a car, Nichols can be heard saying, “I didn’t do anything,” as a group of officers begins to wrestle him to the ground.
One officer is heard yelling, “Tase him! Tase him!”
Nichols calmly says, “OK, I’m on the ground.”
“You guys are really doing a lot right now,” Nichols says. “I’m just trying to go home.”
“Stop, I’m not doing anything,” he yells moments later.
Nichols can then be seen running as an officer fires a Taser at him. The officers then start chasing Nichols.
Other officers are called, and a search ensues before Nichols is caught at another intersection. The officers beat him with a baton and kick and punch him.
Security camera footage shows three officers surrounding Nichols as he lies in the street cornered between police cars, with a fourth officer nearby.
Two officers hold Nichols to the ground as he moves about, and then the third appears to kick him in the head. Nichols slumps more fully onto the pavement with all three officers surrounding him. The same officer kicks him again.
The fourth officer then walks over, unfurls a baton and holds it up at shoulder level as two officers hold Nichols upright, as if he were sitting.
“I’m going to baton the f--- out you,” one officer can be heard saying. His body camera shows him raise his baton while at least one other officer holds Nichols. The officer strikes Nichols on the back with the baton three times in a row.
The other officers then appear to hoist Nichols to his feet, with him flopping like a doll, barely able to stay upright.
An officer then punches him in the face, as the officer with the baton continues to menace him. Nichols stumbles and turns, still held up by two officers. The officer who punched him then walks around to Nichols’ front and punches him three more times. Then Nichols collapses.
Two officers can then be seen atop Nichols on the ground, with a third nearby, for about 40 seconds. Three more officers then run up and one can be seen kicking Nichols on the ground.
At one point, as Nichols is slumped up against a car, and not one of the officers renders aid. The body camera footage shows a first-person view of one of them reaching down and tying his shoe.
It takes more than 20 minutes after Nichols is beaten and on the pavement before any sort of medical attention is provided to him, even though two fire department officers arrived on the scene with medical equipment within 10 minutes.
Cities across the country braced for large demonstrations. Nichols’ relatives urged supporters to protest peacefully.
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn Davis described the officers’ actions as “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” and said that her department has been unable to substantiate the reckless driving allegation that prompted the stop.
She told The Associated Press in an interview that there is no video of the traffic stop that shows Nichols recklessly driving.
During the initial stop, the video shows the officers were “already ramped up, at about a 10,” she said. The officers were “aggressive, loud, using profane language and probably scared Mr. Nichols from the very beginning.”
Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, pleaded for peace.
“I don’t want us burning up our city, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,” she said Thursday. “If you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully.”
Speaking at the White House, President Joe Biden said Friday that he was “very concerned” about the prospect of violence and called for protests to remain peaceful.
Biden said he spoke with Nichols’ mother earlier in the day and told her that he was going to be “making a case” to Congress to pass the George Floyd Act “to get this under control.” The legislation, which has been stalled, is meant to tackle police misconduct and excessive force and boost federal and state accountability efforts.
Court records showed that all five former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — were taken into custody.
The officers each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Four of the five officers had posted bond and been released from custody by Friday morning, according to court and jail records.
Second-degree murder is punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.
Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said in a statement late Friday that two deputies who appeared on the scene after the beating have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Patrick Yoes, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, condemned the alleged actions of the Memphis officers.
“The event as described to us does not constitute legitimate police work or a traffic stop gone wrong. This is a criminal assault under the pretext of law,” Yoes said in a statement.
Rallies and demonstrations were planned Friday night in Memphis, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Portland, Oregon and Washington.
Romanucci and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who also represents Nichols’ family, called on the police chief to disband the department’s so-called scorpion unit focused on street crime.
Davis said other officers are still being investigated for violating department policy. In addition, she said “a complete and independent review” will be conducted of the department’s specialized units, without providing further details.
As state and federal investigations continue, Davis promised the police department’s “full and complete cooperation.”
BATON ROUGE - Attorneys representing the suspects accused of raping LSU student Madison Brooks before her death held a news conference Friday to discuss the case.
It's been a dizzying week of news about Brooks' death. Attorneys for the men accused of sexually assaulting her say facts are becoming muddy as more and more information trickles out.
Thursday night, the WBRZ Investigative Unit obtained video showing Brooks leaving Reggie's in Tigerland.
In a press conference Friday, attorneys for the suspects used the footage to try to bolster their argument.
"It confirms what we've said all along: That my client, and their clients, all left, and they were getting ready to leave, and Miss Brooks approached them from the bar," attorney Joe Long said.
Long is representing suspect Casen Carver, who was booked with principal to third-degree rape. While prosecutors say their case is strong, attorneys say they are prepared to refute the allegations.
"Read the symptoms of a 0.319 BAC. The evidence that we've seen so far on the video of Miss Brooks running across the street in front of Reggie's... That undermines the police version of events," Long said.
The attorneys also say their clients recorded videos in the car while Brooks was with them, and they intend to use that to challenge the state's case.
"The video taken in the car is only a conversation between the parties and do not depict any sexual acts," attorney Ron Haley said.
Those videos have not been made public.
"We do not intend on trying this case in the media. We do, however, intend to state the pertinent facts of this case, while being as sensitive as possible to all parties involved," Haley said.
Governor John Bel Edwards has denied the clemency request of one of the men jailed for plotting the murder of drug runner and government informant Barry Seal.
Bernardo Antonio Vásquez was one of three men convicted in Seal's killing outside a halfway house on Airline Highway in 1986, The Advocate reports. Vásquez was tasked by Pablo Escobar's cartel with tracking Seal's movements in Baton Rouge.
A clemency hearing was held for Vásquez in September when he asked the state pardon board to grant him parole. The panel voted unanimously to recommend that Gov. Edwards reduce Vásquez's sentence and grant him parole, according to the news outlet.
The governor decided that Seal's status as a federal witness and the lengths Vásquez went in plotting the killing outweighed those endorsements.
"After carefully reviewing Mr. Vasquez’s file and the facts of the case, which show that he explicitly left his home country of Colombia and came to Baton Rouge with the sole purpose of carrying out a murder for hire to extinguish a cooperating witness in a critically important federal investigation of global proportions, Gov. Edwards has denied his request for clemency," Eric Holl, Edwards' deputy chief of staff, said in a statement provided Thursday.
GONZALES - Eight people were taken into custody Thursday evening after a manhunt for a suspect tied to the shooting of a retired law enforcement officer in Mississippi led investigators to Ascension Parish.
The Vicksburg Post identified that officer as Mike Ouzts, a former Warren County sheriff's deputy who also previously worked in Louisiana law enforcement. Officials believe Ouzts was shot after a home invasion in Vicksburg.
Vicksburg Police told WLBT that officers checked on the retired officer's home after no one heard from him for several days. Police found the house ransacked and his truck gone.
Gulfport Police would later find the truck, reported missing by Vicksburg Police, outside a church early Thursday morning. While checking out the vehicle, officers encountered Logan Delena, who was linked to the missing person case in Vicksburg.
Delena ran, and police later found the victim bound with two gunshot wounds while checking a wooded area near the church. He was taken to a Mississippi hospital where he's reported to be in stable condition.
Police determined Delena and other potential suspects were possibly hiding out at home in Gonzales. Police found one of the suspect's vehicles outside that home on West Caroline Street, and multiple agencies coordinated to monitor the house.
Officers later spotted the suspects leaving the house and tried to initiate a traffic stop, which led to the pursuit through Gonzales. The vehicle was ultimately cornered at the intersection of LA 44 and LA 42.
Among the eight suspects arrested Thursday night, only two of them — Logan Delena and Blake Menefee — were wanted on fugitive warrants out of Mississippi. Detectives were also able to tie the case to other break-ins in the Gulfport area.
Below are the charges as listed by the Gonzales Police Department.
Logan Delana, 27, of Saucier, MS
- Fugitive arrest for Harrison County (Mississippi) & Vicksburg Police Department (Mississippi)
-7countss Illegal Possession of Stolen Firearms
-1count Illegal Possession of Stolen Things
-1count Aggravated Flight From officer
-1count Possession of Schedule I Control Dangerous Substance (CDS)
-1count Illegal Carrying of Weapons
-1count Possession of Firearms by Convicted Felon
Blake Menefee, 20, of Gonzales
-Fugitive Arrest for Harrison County (Mississippi)
-7countss of Illegal Possession of Stolen Firearms
-1count of Illegal Possession of Stolen Things
-1count Aggravated Flight from an officer
-1count Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana
-1count Illegal Carry of Weapons
Susan Zeringue, 40, of Gonzales
-1 count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin
-1 count Possession with Intent to Distribute Schedule II
Raven Guidry, 32, of Thibodaux
-1 count Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin
-1 count Possession with Intent to Distribute Meth
Elcee Guillard, 36, of Westwego
-1 count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin
-1 count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine
Jerry Benoit, 33, of Thibodaux
-1 count of Possession of Heroin with Intent to Distribute
-1 count Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine
Richard Morris, 38, of New Orleans
-5 counts of Illegal Possession of Stolen Firearms
-1 count Possession of Stolen Things
Sidney Nelson, 39, of Gonzales
-5 counts Illegal Possession of Stolen Firearms
-1 count of Illegal Possession of Stolen Things
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